Body of Cpl. Murphy back in Canada

The flag-draped casket of Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy returned to Canadian soil Thursday as a military Airbus landed at CFB Trenton in Ontario.

Eight members of his regiment solemnly carried the coffin across the tarmac to a hearse.

The pallbearers were followed by members of Murphy's unit who accompanied the remains from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was killed by a suicide bomber on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Paul Martin, Defence Minister David Pratt and Murphy's partner Candace McCauley, were at the base to pay respect.

"Jamie was a proud Canadian soldier who was honoured to wear his uniform," McCauley said in a statement. The couple had bought a house in Petawawa.

His parents, Alice and Norman Murphy, didn't go to Trenton, but Martin spoke with them by phone.

After the hearse left, more than 50 soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment, 3rd. Battalion disembarked from the plane.

A memorial service will be held Friday in Prembroke, Ont, near the Petawawa base.

An autopsy will be performed in Toronto before Murphy's body is returned to his home community of Conception Harbour, where a funeral will be held next week.

Earlier coverage: Corporal's remains return to Canada

The 26-year-old died when a man with mortar shells strapped to his body jumped on board Murphy's Iltis jeep near the Canadian base Camp Julien.

In depth: Canada's casualties

Cpl. Jeremy Gerald MacDonald, 28, of Burnt Islands, Lieut. Jason Matthew Feyko, 30, of Peterborough, Ont., and Cpl. Richard Michael Newman, 23, of Hartland, N.B., also were wounded in the attack.