Violence has intensified in Afghanistan in recent months with scores of people killed in clashes and roadside and suicide blasts as NATO members build up troop numbers.

Police said a Canadian soldier had been wounded but a spokesman said no Canadians were hurt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Taliban insurgents, fighting to oust foreign troops and overthrow the Western-backed government, have claimed a string of similar attacks.

Four Canadian soldiers were killed in a roadside blast in the southern province of Kandahar on April 22.

Canada has about 2,200 troops in Kandahar.

Britain and the Netherlands are also sending troops to the volatile south as part of a planned expansion of the NATO-led peacekeeping force.

The United States, which leads a separate force battling insurgents and hunting for their leaders, hopes to cut the number of its troops in Afghanistan from more than 19,000 to about 16,500.

The NATO force now operates in Kabul and the relatively peaceful north and west. In July it is due to take over in the south and later this year or early next year in the east.