EDMONTON — An armoured vehicle has taken the casket of a Canadian soldier through the streets of Edmonton to the church where friends and family are offering their last respects.

Eight members of a military honour guard hoisted the coffin of thirty-year-old Cpl. Nick Bulger onto their shoulders and carried it into St. Joseph's Basilica for a private funeral.

The Edmonton-based soldier died in Afghanistan earlier this month when the vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb in the Zhari district.

Bulger, who grew up in Ontario, was on his first overseas mission after joining the military in 2000.

He leaves a wife and two young daughters, who all walked behind the armoured vehicle that was part of a block-long procession.

A neighbour says Rebeka Bulger was looking forward to meeting her husband in Ontario in August when he was due for a leave.