KANDAHAR - At least 2,000 NATO soldiers turned out in the middle of the night to bid farewell to Bombardier Karl Manning, as family and friends struggled Sunday to explain and come to terms with his death, which appeared to be suicide.

The question everyone was asking both in Kandahar and in his hometown of Chicoutimi, Que. was: Why?

"A unit is a family," said Maj. Vincent Giroux, the battle group's artillery commander. "I think that is the question everybody is asking. His family, Canadians in general, friends who knew him. We would like to know why and what happened."

Comrades and friends gathered Sunday evening to pay their respects to Manning in front of the Canadian memorial at Kandahar Airfield.

Many of them expressed utter disbelief at his death early Friday at a forward base in the volatile Zangabad area, southwest of the provincial capital.

"It is still a shock for us," said Giroux, who was Manning's commanding officer with X-battery of the 5e Regiment d'artillerie legere du Canada (5th Artillery Regiment).

He and other soldiers painted a picture of a confident, easy to approach man who was recently eager to demonstrate his skills to American soldiers who are flooding into his remote outpost in anticipation of the Canadian pull-out.

At 31-years-old, Giroux says Manning was mature and not afraid to speak his mind.

"He was impressive, a friendly guy (and) a team worker," Giroux said following a brief memorial Sunday night.

An investigation is underway, but his death is believed to be a suicide, as military police have ruled out foul play and enemy action.

Manning's father Reginald Manning told Quebec newspaper Le Soleil that he refuses to believe his son committed suicide, saying he communicated regularly with Karl.

The elder Manning said Karl was fine and that he had just bought a house and had plans of marriage.

When The Canadian Press called Manning's parents' home in Chicoutimi on Sunday, a man who identified himself as Karl's brother also said he didn't believe it was a suicide.

"We think it's not the case but we don't know all the details," said the man, who refused to give his name.

"He (Karl) had a lot of projects and he was about to get married."

Master Warrant Officer Ghislain Angel, the battery sergeant-major, says he was woken up in the barracks early Friday in Kandahar with the news and, at first, thought it was joke.

"I was totally shocked," he said. "He was always smiling. He was always coming to us to talk us and give us a lot of information, even about his personal life. He was a very great soldier."

Angel readily admitted his description was not of someone who would take their own life, a fact he was acutely aware of and couldn't explain.

"I don't understand it either, sir."

The body was discovered by fellow soldiers.

Manning, who was near the end of his tour, was an artillery soldier operating the radar at a remote base in western Panjwaii. He'd been there for six months as part of the 1st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment battle group.

The death is the second of the year, and the first for the Canadian mission in Afghanistan since March 27. That's when Cpl. Yannick Scherrer was killed by an improvised explosive device southwest of Kandahar city.

If his death is ruled a suicide, Manning would become the fourth soldier involved in the Afghan mission to have died by their own hand overseas.