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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Three Canadian soldiers have been wounded in an improvised explosive device blast during a foot patrol in a volatile district of Afghanistan west of Kandahar City.

Military spokesman Maj. Jay Janzen says the soldiers have been airlifted to the hospital on the Kandahar Airfield base, where one remains in critical condition and the other two are in fair condition.

Janzen says the explosion occurred today during a so-called ``framework'' patrol - ``routine, day-to-day patrolling that Afghan National Security Forces, in co-operation with Canadian soldiers, do to maintain security in the area.''

The spokesman says the names of the wounded soldiers will not be released.

They are members of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont.

They were in the area as part of an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, one of several small groups of Canadian soldiers attached to Afghan National Army units to help guide their development.

No Afghan soldiers were injured in the attack.

The blast occurred around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in Zhari district, long a hotbed of insurgent activity about 30 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

Last summer, Canadian troops tried to flush the Taliban out when the entire battle group of the Royal 22nd Regiment moved into the region. A Van Doo and a medic from 5th Field Ambulance unit died when their vehicle rolled over a mine, and a second Van Doo was killed by an IED.

Canadian forward operating bases in the area have been reporting frequent contact with insurgents this fall, mostly brief skirmishes of the type soldiers refer to as ``shoot and scoot.''