KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian military officials have identified the attacker who struck a Canadian soldier with an axe as a Taliban insurgent, The Canadian Press has learned.

The ambush marks the first publicly confirmed engagement between Canadians and the remnants of Taliban forces since Canada's army arrived in force in southern Afghanistan earlier this year.

The army rarely reveals much of the intelligence it gathers, but Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the head of Canada's Task Force Afghanistan, confirmed the Taliban affiliation of the Afghan attacker in his 20s.

"This individual was a Taliban," Fraser said, declining to offer any more details of the man's identity.

"This is not about us anymore, this is about the Taliban attacking their own people."

Fraser was portraying the ambush during a community meeting that was followed up with a volley of gunfire and grenade as a Taliban attack on the Pashtun honour code.

The code dictates that guests are to be treated with honour when invited into a community. Fraser said such an attack by the Taliban is unprecedented.

An Afghan in his 20s snuck up on Capt. Trevor Greene and struck him in the head with an axe as the Canadian officer was sitting down with village leaders about village 70 kilometres north of Kandahar.

The attacker was quickly gunned down by Canadian soldiers, but not before he inflicted a major head injury on Greene.

Greene is in serious but stable condition and is being treated at an American hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

The barbaric attack at a community meeting even shocked soldiers who have come under regular attack in recent weeks.

Three times soldiers have come under fire from a combination of rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. No Canadians have been seriously hurt in those attacks.

Suicide and roadside bombs are also a regular fixture and have killed one Canadian and wounded several others this year.

Fraser, who is also head of the multinational brigade in southern Afghanistan, said he expected insurgents to test Canadians.

"We're not going to be bullied away from here, we're going to lean into this," he said.

About 2,200 Canadians who are tasked with assisting with security and reconstruction in Kandahar province.

Canadians have also suffered a spate of road accidents that have killed two people. In total, three Canadians have died and more than two dozen have been injured in 2006.

The bodies of Master Cpl. Tim Wilson and Cpl. Paul Davis were to be returned to Canada on Sunday.