An insurgent ambush has killed two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and wounded two others.

Col. Fred Lewis, deputy commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan, told reporters on Saturday that the wounded soldiers were in serious condition in hospital at the Kandahar Airfield.

The names and hometowns of the soldiers have yet to be released.

"The soldiers were near Pashmul, which is about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar," CTV News' Paul Workman told Newsnet on Saturday.

"It's been the site of a number of attacks in the last week or so. In fact, about six Canadian soldiers have been killed in that very place."

The soldiers were helping to develop a road meant to serve as a safer liaison between the volatile Panjwaii district and Kandahar-bound Highway 1 when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and firearms attacked them.

The RPG attacks came as two of the soldiers were outside their armoured vehicles, Workman said.

The ensuing firefight lasted about 3.5 hours. Air support was brought in to help the Canadian soldiers.

"After the first 15 minutes or so, we were the ones doing most of the shooting," Lewis told reporters. He wouldn't discuss insurgent casualties.

Soldiers refer to a particular stretch of Highway 1 as "Ambush Alley."

Workman said the new road link to Panjwaii "has become a magnet for Taliban attacks."

The Panjwaii is Taliban heartland, and the Canadian military feels the road is significant because it will end the area's isolation, which accounts for the Taliban's resistance.

"If they put in the road, it shows that they are, in a sense, stronger than the Taliban."

Other deaths

On Oct. 3, Sgt. Craig Paul Gillam and Cpl. Robert Thomas James Mitchell were killed during a similar attack by insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

They had been providing security for road construction about 20 kilometres west of Kandahar when they came under attack.

Gillam's funeral was held Saturday at a church in South Branch, a small community in southwestern Newfoundland and Labrador near Port aux Basques. More than 300 people attended the ceremony.

Including the latest deaths, a total of 42 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
 
With files from CTV's Paul Workman and The Canadian Press