KABUL (AFP) – A NATO soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday.

"An ISAF soldier died and two were wounded in Regional Command South following an explosion yesterday," an ISAF press statement said.

The 37-nation ISAF said it would not release the nationality of the casualties until this had been announced by relevant countries.

Most ISAF soldiers in the south are British, Canadian, Dutch and U.S. nationals.

It also did not give the location of the incident, which took to 81 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in hostile action.

Around 190 were killed last year, about 120 in combat inside the country.

There are more than 50,000 foreign troops, mostly with ISAF but also with a separate U.S.-led coalition, fighting an insurgency by the ultra-conservative Taleban alongside the Afghan army and police.

The militants have waged a bloody insurgency since their ouster in late 2001 in a U.S.-led offensive. The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives.