A Canadian soldier is in critical condition after his rifle discharged in his sleeping quarters at Camp Julien in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Commanding officer Col. Alain Tremblay said the incident happened while the 43-year-old soldier was alone, at 1:30 p.m. local time in the tent village where the troops sleep. The soldier was shot by his own C-7 rifle, the common weapon carried by most Canadian soldiers on the base.

"Obviously if he was alone, only two options remain open," Tremblay said. "Either it was an accident, or potentially a suicide attempt."

Moments after the gunfire rang out, other troops ran to help the soldier. He was in the nearby camp hospital within 15 minutes, undergoing emergency surgery.

Reporting from Kabul, CTV's Matt McClure said surgeons worked throughout the afternoon to restore the soldier's air passage and stabilize his condition.

"Apparently a bullet from his C-7 rifle had entered his right side of his face under his chin and entered, exited by his cheek," McClure told CTV Newsnet.

"He just came come out of the operating room a short time ago. He reported to be in critical, but stable condition."

Reaction on the base is mixed, McClure added.

"There are obviously people who knew this soldier are deeply surprised and shocked about this turn of events.

"Others are grateful to hear doctors say he is going to survive this, although they are of the opinion that he will require reconstruction of plastic surgery and then probably some mental health counselling."

Though his name has not been released, his family, who are from Quebec, were notified by a Canadian Forces padre Sunday morning.

The soldier just arrived in Afghanistan, as part of the deployment on Feb. 10.

Military policy at Camp Julien calls for soldiers to have constant access to their weapons and ammunition.

However, guns are not supposed to be stored loaded on the base.

In fact, when soldiers return from missions, they are supposed to clear their weapons of all ammunition -- by pointing the barrel of the weapon into a sand box and pulling the trigger.

Tremblay told reporters that in addition to gun safety policies, soldiers must also pass a strict psychological screening process before they leave Canada.

"It would be doubtful that there were signs (of prior mental instability)" Tremblay said. "But we will review files to see if any indicators were missed."

Tremblay told reporters this was the 13th fire mishap to occur since Canadian troops arrived in Kabul last August, but it's the first in which anyone was hurt.