Two Italian soldiers were killed and four others wounded when their convoy was hit by a road bomb in Kabul on Friday, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kabul said.

"They were on a patrol in Kabul and were attacked by an IED (improvised explosive device)," a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

"Four were injured and two died... They were Italians," Staff  Sergeant Brian Lamar said.

The six soldiers were travelling in two armoured vehicles in the south-eastern part of Kabul when they were hit by the explosion, the ANSA news agency in Rome reported, quoting the Italian contingent's command in Afghanistan.

Two died of their wounds shortly afterwards, it said.

Italy has nearly 2000 troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF peacekeeping force, of which NATO took command in 2003.

The 10,000-strong force, drawn from around 36 countries, has been in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was overthrown in late 2001.

PHOTO CAPTION

Italian soldiers from the 9th Alpine Regiment, aboard a 'Puma' armored vehicle, patrol the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, in this file photo taken August 15, 2005. (AP)