Sydney - A second Australian soldier has been killed this week fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, the Defence Force announced Thursday.

The soldier was trying to defuse a roadside bomb when it exploded.

"We are devastated another soldier has been killed so soon after the death of Corporal Mathew Hopkins," Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said.

Hopkins was killed on Monday in an exchange of fire with the Taliban.

Around 1,000 Australian soldiers are deployed in the southern province of Oruzgan, part of the 70,000-strong foreign force in Afghanistan.

Thursday's casualty was the 10th since Australia joined the international forces in Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001. (dpa)