A Canadian soldier stands next to Bison armored vehicles that hold the flag-draped caskets of four Canadian soldiers, who were killed in a roadside bomb attack over the weekend, at Kandahar airfield on Monday April 24, 2006, in Afghanistan.

Canada's new Conservative government barred the media from covering the return Tuesday of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.

The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the growing human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

Canadian military officials blamed remnants of the toppled Taliban government for the bombing.

Their remains were to arrive Tuesday evening at a base in Trenton, Ontario.

The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a decision that mirrors Bush administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States.

Like the Pentagon, Canadian Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor cited privacy concerns as a reason for the media ban.

Fifteen Canadians have been killed since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.

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