WARSAW: Seven Polish soldiers were wounded in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday when a roadside bomb blew up as their armoured vehicle passed, the Polish defence ministry said.

"In the south of the province of Ghazni, the rebels attacked a Polish patrol with an explosive device planted on the side of the road," the ministry said in a statement.

The soldiers were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital at a base in Ghazni. Two were in serious but stable condition.

Poland has 2,500 troops in the international force battling the Taliban in Afghanistan and is due to raise their number to 2,600 by the end of the year.

Nineteen Polish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Poland first sent troops there in March 2002, including three since June 12.