BRUSSELS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A Dutch soldier was killed and three others wounded on Monday in an accident during a fighting against the Taliban near the Afghan town of Chora, Dutch media reported Tuesday.

    This is the third Dutch fatality in combat in Afghanistan since the troops were deployed in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan last August.

    Sergeant-major Jos Leunissen, 44, from the Assen air mobile brigade, was killed as a result of "an accident during the fighting," the Dutch Defense Ministry said.

    The cause of death was not officially confirmed, but he was apparently hit by one of the Dutch mortar grenades, which were fired by his own unit but exploded sooner than expected.

    The conditions of the three wounded Dutch soldiers were stable,the ministry said.

    Since Friday, Chora has been the target of a large Taliban offensive. Dutch and Australian soldiers were engaged in the fighting at the request of the governor of Uruzgan.

    An Afghan interior ministry spokesperson said that at least 50 rebels, including regional Taliban leader mullah Abdul Mutalib, have been killed in the fighting in Uruzgan in the last few days.

    The latest fatal incident occurred three days after a suicide attack in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan, in which a Dutch soldier was killed. In April a Dutch soldier on an operation in support of an American unit stepped on a landmine and was killed instantly.