Three Italian soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, in clashes with militants in the western Afghan province of Farah on Thursday. Military sources told Adnkronos that one of the soldiers was injured in the foot, another in the hand and the third under his arm while they were conducting a joint patrol with Afghan soldiers.
"The action of the insurgents seems to have been meticulously prepared, to hit our troops at the end of a search, in an area known for the presence of hostile militias," the ministry of defence said in a statement.
"The Afghan military and paratroopers of the 187th Thunderbolt regiment...immediately responded to the fire and positioned the troops against our enemy."
The ministry said it was unclear how many militants were killed in the exchange.
Italy has 2,350 troops in Afghanistan, the fifth largest deployment after the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany.
There are currently some 58,000 international troops from 42 nations stationed in Afghanistan that make up NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).