The attacker rammed a car into the convoy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) near the ISAF Provincial Reconstruction Team base in Kandahar city, the provincial capital.

    A Xinhua reporter saw two ISAF armored vehicles on fire, and soldiers have sealed off the area.

    There is no immediate report of casualties in the attack.

    Kandahar, where 2,100 Canadian troops are deployed, has been a stronghold of the former Taliban regime and other anti-government insurgents, who have attacked foreign and Afghan government troops frequently.

    Three Canadian soldiers of the ISAF were injured, one seriously, on Monday night in an attack by militants in the southern Kandahar province, Maj. Scott Lundy, an ISAF spokesman said Tuesday.

    The attack occurred 20 km west of Kandahar city, the provincial capital.

    The ISAF, which has about 21,000 troops, took command in southern Afghanistan from coalition forces on July 31, while coalition troops are mainly deployed in eastern Afghanistan to hunt down militants there.

    Afghanistan is suffering from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which over 1,800 people, mostly Taliban insurgents, have been killed so far.

    More than 80 foreign troops, most of whom are Americans, have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the past eight months. Enditem