Two Canadian soldiers have been killed in southern Afghanistan, while a governor escaped an assassination attempt and officials reported 12 more deaths in Taliban-linked violence. The soldiers, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), were killed on Saturday in the flashpoint province of Kandahar when their unit was ambushed, the Canadian defence ministry announced. Officials in Afghanistan said three other troops had been wounded when they were attacked by rocket propelled grenades and small arms. Canadian authorities said two of its own were in stable condition with non-critical injuries. \"Other Canadian units quickly responded to the attack and became involved in a three-hour battle with insurgents\" with support from ISAF helicopters, it said. The incident brought to 42 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in the war-ravaged country, 34 of them this year. About 2,300 Canadian soldiers are based in Kandahar. More than 115 foreign soldiers have been killed in hostile action this year, which has been the worst for Taliban attacks since the movement was toppled from government in 2001.The governor of eastern Laghman province told AFP earlier Saturday he had survived an attack on his two-vehicle convoy as he was travelling to work. Laghman and other provinces close to the capital Kabul have been the scene of increasing incidents related to the Taliban-led insurgency. Three senior district officials were killed in a similar attack in the province of Nangarhar earlier in the week. The governor of eastern Paktia province, Hakim Taniwal, was assassinated in a Taliban-claimed suicide bombing last month, becoming the first governor to be killed since the extremists were ousted from power. In another incident likely carried out by the Taliban or another Islamic group, police reported that a remote-controlled roadside bomb had killed six Afghan militiamen in Paktia on Friday. (AFP)