There's more bad news out of Afghanistan. Five Canadians, four soldiers and a journalist, were killed Wednesday in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar by an improvised explosive device.

The report about the killed Canadians comes hours after the State Department said eight American civilians were killed in the province of Khost, apparently by a suicide bomber who attacked a Western base in a location near the Pakistan border.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the Calgary Herald are reporting the journalist was Michelle Lang, 34, who worked for the Herald.

The CBC reported:

It was the worst single day for Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since six soldiers were killed on July 4, 2007, when their large armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb on a well-used road in the Panjwaii district, about 20 kilometres southwest of the city of Kandahar.

Since 2002, 138 Canadian soldiers have been killed serving in Afghanistan.

Today's casualities bring the number of Canadian civilians killed in Afghanistan to four. The reporter is the first Canadian journalist to be killed while covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Seven journalists from other countries have also died.