A soldier with a NATO-led force helping to fight extremist insurgents in Afghanistan was killed in a bomb attack, the International Security Assistance Force said Friday.

ISAF did not give the nationality of the soldier killed Thursday in southern Afghanistan, where most soldiers are American, British or Canadian.

"An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device strike yesterday in southern Afghanistan," it said in a statement that gave no more details.

The killing comes amid a spike in attacks linked to an insurgency led by the Taliban, who are most active in southern Afghanistan where the United States has started to deploy most of the 21,000 reinforcements due this year.

The new death would take to 103 the number of international soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks, according to a tally maintained by icasualties.org.

There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan, which the United States and allies invaded in late 2001 to topple the extremist Taliban regime.