The first of four Canadian servicemen killed by a bicycle bomber targeting troops in southern Afghanistan was identified on Monday as a Manitoba-based soldier.

An undisclosed number of Canadian soldiers and at least 27 Afghan civilians were also wounded in the blast in the Kafir Band village, located in the Kandahar province district of Panjwaii.

"An individual on a bicycle detonated himself near the Canadian soldiers," Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the head of NATO forces in the region, told reporters.

One of the soldiers killed in the attack has been identified as Pte. David Byers of the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Shilo, Man. He was originally from Espanola, Ont.

The military has so far withheld the identities of the other three soldiers at the request of their families.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Forces reported that ten of the soldiers injured in the attack are being transported to Landstuhl, Germany for further medical treatment.

Several other soldiers may also be sent to Germany, but none of the wounded troops have suffered life-threatening injuries, the military said.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families of the soldiers who were affected today," Fraser said.

Canadian soldiers were on foot in the community of Kafir Band in the Panjwaii combat zone just west of Kandahar city at 9:30 a.m. local time when a man on a bicycle rode up to their convoy in the morning.

Earlier reports from NATO officials said the attack took place as the soldiers, part of a unit drawn mainly from Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Manitoba, were handing out candy and school and sports supplies to children.

Witnesses said dozens of locals were warily approaching the troops hoping for promised handouts when the bomber struck.

NATO officials said 25 Afghan civilians were also injured, but only two young children arrived at a Kandahar hospital suffering from shrapnel wounds.

The children are being treated by Canadian medical personnel at Kandahar Airfield.

Earlier, NATO spokesman Mark Laity told CTV Newsnet that officials were "not surprised" by the attack.

"These tactics are what we'd expect from an enemy that's been defeated," Laity said.

Fraser said the devastating blast will not change Canadian tactics.

"The soldiers were walking, they were interacting with the people, they have to do that to reassure the people, to support the police and the Afghan National Army,'' Fraser said.

The Associated Press reported that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Operation Medusa

Monday's attack came just a day after NATO wrapped up Operation Medusa -- a two-week anti-Taliban operation in which more than 500 insurgents were reported killed.

NATO hailed the operation as a success Sunday, despite continuing violence in the south.

Fraser called today's "cowardly" attack a desperate attempt by the weakened Taliban to prevent the district's residents from "enjoying the safe and secure environment that we take for granted back home."

"Afghan national security forces, NATO and Canadians will carry on the mission, which is to help Afghans rebuild their community following the defence against the Taliban attacks against this community," he added.

While the military vows to carry on with the mission, the attack raises questions as to whether it's secure enough for residents to start returning home.

"The Afghans who were in this region thought that they were going to be in a better security position," said CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar.

"Now, of course, with this suicide bomb, perhaps they're feeling less assured that the Canadians coming in and forcing the Taliban out haven't done what they hoped they would do."

Most of Afghanistan's recent surge in violence has taken place in volatile southern provinces, where some 8,000 NATO forces took military control from the U.S.-led coalition on Aug. 1.

NATO commanders say they need another 2,500 troops plus greater air support to crush the Taliban threat more quickly.

Some 2,200 Canadians are in Kandahar province. Today's deaths raised the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 36 since the Canadian mission to the country began in 2002.

With files from the Associated Press