New Zealand suffered its first female combat kill in Afghanistan on Sunday following an attack on Humvee army convoy that was on its way back to a forward base manned by Kiwi troops in the Afghan province of Bamyan, reports said.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) confirmed in a statement that three service members were killed yesterday when an improvised explosive device (IED) stuck the Humvee they were riding in, immediately igniting a massive explosion that instantly killed all aboard the army vehicle.

NZDF's Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Rhys Jones identified the fatalities as Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Private Richard Harris, 21, and Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, who Auckland said was its second female combat casualty since the Vietnam War.

The three service members were part of the 145-strong Provincial Reconstruction Team that was first deployed by the NZ government in 2003 to the decade-old Afghan War.

The Kiwi troops were mostly concentrated in Bamyan, which is located northeast of Afghanistan.

The three deaths, the NZDF said, pushed up NZ's total casualty in the Afghan War to 10, with five combat kills in the month of August alone, including the recent KIAs absorbed by the nation when two Kiwi soldiers were shot dead in a gunbattle with Taliban insurgents.

That incident happened in the same area where the Humvee convoy was attacked, NZDF officials said.

According to The Associated Press (AP), Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed in a statement that his group was responsible for the latest IED attack.

Local media reports noted that the Bamyan incident was the deadliest day so far for the Kiwi contingent in the raging Afghan War and the country's defence minister, Jonathan Coleman, admitted that the troops' death came as "a deep shock to the nation."

"My immediate thoughts are with the families of these three NZDF soldiers who lost their lives, and the wider NZDF community," the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Mr Coleman as saying on Monday.

In a statement, NZ Prime Minister John Key extended his "deepest condolences to the families of the three deceased."

Mr Key also indicated that his government has been mulling an earlier exit plan for NZ soldiers operating in Bamyan, which according to NZDF officials has seen heightened tensions lately following the relative stability witnessed at the onset of the Afghan Mission in 2003.

The NZ prime minister hinted that from the original plan of a total pull out by late parts of 2013, his country would likely accelerate the drawdown road map soon enough to complete its departure from the conflict by early next year.

In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Mr Key assured too that his government would not "cut and run," from its mission in Afghanistan despite of the recent setbacks represented by the combat deaths.

"It's neither practical, nor sensible, nor right for us just to abandon and cut and run today," the NZ prime minister stressed.

He also asserted that New Zealand's withdrawal calendar "is not something that's changed as a result of these five tragic deaths."

Mr Key, however, said he intends to announce his government's definite exit date from Afghanistan "in the next few weeks."

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