Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan: military

An Australian soldier has been killed in a firefight with Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, taking the nation's death toll in the war-torn country to nine, the military said Tuesday.

The soldier was on patrol with members of the Afghan national army in southern Uruzgan province when they came under attack on Monday, the head of the defence force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told reporters.

"Initial reports indicate they were engaged by a group of around 20 Taliban insurgents who were using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades," he said.

"The patrol returned fire and, sadly, an Australian soldier was killed as a consequence of this engagement."

The soldier, who was not immediately named, was the ninth Australian to die in combat in Afghanistan since 2002 and the eighth in little more than two years.

The attack followed a deadly weekend in which nine US and European soldiers were killed along with several civilians and militants amid spiralling extremist violence in Afghanistan.

A total of about 70,000 international troops are in Afghanistan and more than 290 foreign soldiers lost their lives in the war-torn country last year.

Australia has about 1,000 troops operating in Afghanistan, mostly in Uruzgan province.