The Islamist Taliban fighters were killed late Wednesday in fierce fighting with Afghan and US-led troops in troubled Zabul province, provincial governor's spokesman Gulab Shah Alikhil told AFP.

"Initially our troops came under attack. They called for support from the coalition troops, who responded with ground troops and air support. Thirty-five Taliban were killed in the subsequent fighting," Alikhil said.

The US-led coalition headquarters said it had no immediate information on the incident, while the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it was not involved.

Zabul is one of Afghanistan's most violent regions. Taliban rebels seized control of a remote district there last week, the latest of several rebel attempts to exert control in southern and western parts of the country.

Separately, two Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb near their vehicle on Wednesday, as the bodies of six of their comrades who died days earlier in a similar attack were returning home for burial, officials said.

The latest blast about 38km west of the southern city of Kandahar -- the birthplace of the Taliban -- also wounded two soldiers, one seriously, Canadian National Defence spokesman John Knoll said in Ottawa.

A third soldier was also wounded in an earlier bomb attack in the same area, he added.