A Canadian soldier was killed and three others were wounded Tuesday in a suicide attack near a Canadian compound in Kandahar City.

Defence officials named the latest victim as Cpl. David Braun, who was based at CFB Shilo in Manitoba.

Braun died when a vehicle packed with explosives ploughed into a Canadian resupply convoy.

A young Afghan civilian girl, and the attacker, were also killed in the blast that took place just outside Camp Nathan Smith -- the home of Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the city.

The identities of the three injured Canadians have not yet been released.

About two hours after the bombing, a Canadian soldier shot to death an Afghan teenager and seriously wounded a young boy when a motorcycle approached a security perimeter around the bombing site.

Canadian military officials said a single bullet passed through the 17-year-old driver, and then struck and killed his 10-year-old passenger.

The teen fled the scene, but later returned to the Canadians for medical help. He was then airlifted to the military hospital at Kandahar Air Field.

CTV's Matt McClure, reporting from Kandahar, said the military is investigating the shootings.

"The Department of National Defence has what's called a National Investigation Service, which is an independent but internal body that . . . will investigate whether or not this was an appropriate use of deadly force by Canadian soldiers," said McClure.

Military officials could not confirm whether the soldier had fired a warning shot.

Col. Fred Lewis, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the soldier may have believed the motorcycle was carrying an explosive.

"Clearly the soldier thought they were (a threat). The soldier went through the standard escalation of the rules of engagement, giving verbal and visual warnings," said Lewis.

McClure described the scene following the blast as "very chaotic." A Canadian LAV-3 light armoured vehicle burned for hours after the massive blast. Another lesser-armoured G-Wagon jeep was also destroyed.

"There were huge plumes of smoke and fireballs as ammunition and grenades inside these vehicles blew off," McClure said.

Afghan journalists also reported that Canadian soldiers fired over their heads as they attempted to capture video and photographs at the bombing site.

Military officials could not confirm that account.

The attack brings to eight the number of Canadian soldiers to die in southern Afghanistan in August.

Twenty-seven Canadian soldiers have been killed since Canada deployed ground forces to the country in early 2002.

Defence officials are concerned the shootings that killed the teen and injured the young boy will likely be used by Taliban insurgents to stir up anger against foreign soldiers and to recruit more troops and young men to their cause.

"I suspect they'll try," said Lewis. "I would be concerned about it and I think we need to pass the right message to the Afghan people," he said.

"The message is that we're here to help them and we certainly would never want to hurt them."

Earlier attack

The suicide bombing came just hours after two Canadian soldiers were injured, one seriously, when their patrol was ambushed on a treacherous highway in southern Afghanistan.

"There have been dozens of ambushes on that highway in the past two or three months," said Lieut.-Col. Ian Hope, the outgoing commander of Canada's battle group in Kandahar.

"There were dozens last year as well."

The two Canadians were hurt when their patrol came under small arms fire about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar.

One of the injured, Cpl. Jesse Melnyck, was listed in stable, non-critical condition in Kandahar before being flown to a military hospital in Germany for further treatment.

The other soldier was in hospital at Kandahar Air Field, and was in good condition. His name was not released.

The patrol was on its way back to Kandahar Airfield from the Zhari District centre, very near where Canadian and Afghan government soldiers fought intense battles with Taliban forces over the weekend in a volatile district west of Kandahar.

Afghan government officials said 72 Taliban were killed in the massive ground, air and artillery assaults.

Most of the Canadian soldiers currently in place are newly arrived in Kandahar within the past few weeks, and are mainly from CFB Petawawa in eastern Ontario as well as CFB Shilo in Manitoba.

They have replaced an almost equal number who are in the process of returning to Canada, mainly out of CFB Edmonton.

With reports by CTV's Matt McClure and The Canadian Press in Kandahar