(dpa) - A Canadian NATO soldier was killed in a roadside bomb in southern Kandahar province during a foot patrol in the region, the military said on Monday.
The incident took place in Zabgabad village in Panjwayi district, some 35 kilometres from Kandahar city, once the stronghold of Taliban leader, on Sunday night, the Canadian defence ministry said in a statement posted at its website.
The soldier was evacuated by helicopter to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force hospital at Kandahar Airfield, where he later succumbed to his injuries, it said.
The name of the deceased soldier was not given at the request of the family.
"This incident will not deter us from continuing our work with the government and the people of Afghanistan," the statement said. "Incidents like this one prove that, along with our Afghan National Security Force partners, Canadians need to continue working to bring about peace and security in the region."
Thus far 81 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since their deployment. A Canadian diplomat was also killed in Kandahar in an attack.
Kandahar and the southern provinces of Helmand, Zabul, Uruzgan and Ghazni are the main hotbed of Taliban-led insurgents, who are fighting to topple the Western-backed Afghan government.
Some 2,500 Canadian soldiers are stationed in Kandahar province as part of 43,000-strong ISAF forces in the country.