Kabul  - Three foreign soldiers were killed in an attack on a patrol of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led force said Friday.

Militants detonated a bomb Thursday and then immediately began shooting at the patrol, the ISAF said.

It did not release the identity or nationalities of the soldiers killed or give a more exact location of where the ambush occurred.

However, the majority of soldiers stationed in southern Afghanistan, a stronghold of Taliban militants, is American and British.

Fighting and bombings have intensified across Afghanistan as it prepares for the second presidential election in its history on August 20.

Since the beginning of August, 15 foreign soldiers have been killed in the country, according to icasualties. org, a website that tracks casualties in the Afghan and Iraq conflicts. (dpa)