Kabul  - One NATO soldier was killed and two injured in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday.

The soldiers, who were part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), were attacked during a patrol on Sunday, the alliance said in a statement.

Taliban militants rely heavily on use of roadside bombings as part of their campaign to topple the Western-backed Afghan government seven years after the ouster of their ultra-Islamist regime.

The statement did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers, nor did it say where exactly in the eastern region the incident took place. Most of the soldiers serving under the banner of ISAF forces in eastern provinces are from the United States.

More than 70,000 international soldiers, deployed from 41 nations, are stationed in Afghanistan. 17,000 additional US troops are expected to arrive in Afghanistan by summer.

More than 40 foreign soldiers, with most of them US forces, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year. Nearly 300 foreign troops lost their lives in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2008, which marked it the deadliest year for international forces since the fall of Taliban regime. dpa