OSLO : A roadside bomb hit a Norwegian convoy in Afghanistan on Sunday and killed four soldiers, the military announced, in the deadliest single attack on the Scandinavian country`s troops in the conflict.

"Four soldiers were killed this afternoon," military spokeswoman Heidi Langvik Hansen told AFP.

"They were in their armoured vehicle when a bomb exploded on the side of the road, in the province of Faryab, in the north of the country," she said, declining to give more details until families of the dead had been notified.

June has been the deadliest month for international troops under NATO command fighting an almost nine-year Islamist insurgency led by the Taliban.

The latest deaths took to 98 the number of soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan this month, according to an AFP count.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths.

"Our thoughts are above all with those who were close to the victims," said General Bernt Iver Ferdinand Brovold, head of the operational chief of staff, in an army statement.

Defence Minister Grete Faremo said, "Norway has been hit hard. The loss deeply affects us all. It`s hard and it reminds us of the risk we`re taking."

The attack takes to nine the number of Norwegian soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan, which international forces invaded in late 2001 to remove the Taliban regime.

Norway has about 500 soldiers in the country, most of them stationed in the capital Kabul or in the north.

BDST : 0917 HRS , June 28, 2010
SIS