KABUL, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- One NATO-led ISAF soldier was killed and another wounded when their vehicle was attacked Thursday in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, ISAF said in a press release.

    The vehicle of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at approximately 4: 30 a.m. local time, the release said.

    The soldiers had been evacuated by helicopter to ISAF's multinational hospital at Kandahar Airfield, it said, adding the wounded is being treated for his injuries.

    But the release failed to announce the victims' nationality, but said further details will be provided once they become available.

    About 2,200 Canadian soldiers have been deployed in Kandahar province, which is suffering Taliban insurgence.

    ISAF took command in the volatile southern Afghanistan, the Taliban's stronghold, from the U.S.-led coalition forces on Monday, thrusting the 26-nation NATO into its toughest combat mission in its 57-year history.

    On Tuesday morning, three British soldiers of ISAF were killed and another seriously injured when their patrol vehicles were ambushed by Taliban militants in northern Helmand of southern Afghanistan.

    On Wednesday, another ISAF soldier was wounded at approximately 9 a.m. in the same province when his position received heavy small-arms fire from insurgents.

    Afghanistan is being harassed by a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which over 1,700 people, mostly Taliban extremists, have been killed.

    More than 70 foreign troops have also lost their lives in the war-weary central Asian country. Enditem