Ziccy

Nine Australian special forces soldiers have been wounded in a battle against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

One has life-threatening injuries, five have serious wounds, and the other three have slight wounds.

The Defence Department says the nine were members of a Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) detachment fighting an overnight battle with the Taliban in Uruzgan province.

It says several members of the Taliban were killed during the fight and the operation, aimed at disrupting Taliban command and control networks, is still going on.

In a statement, Defence spokesman Brigadier Brian Dawson said the wounded received immediate first aid from fellow patrol members at the scene and were evacuated by helicopter to ISAF medical faciltiies.

"All nine soldiers have been evacuated from the area of the contact and are receiving the best possible medical care at present," he said in the statement.

The soldiers' families have been notified, the statement said.

Chief of the Defence Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston says the troops were ambushed.

"I think it's very good that we haven't lost anybody," he said.

"It's a very dangerous place and we were involved in an activity with other forces, and I guess we were ambushed and this is what happened.

"I can't go into the operational details because they [the troops] are still out there and they're still on operations."

The incident follows the death in July of 25-year-old SAS Signaller Sean McCarthy, the sixth Australian soldier to die in theatre in Afghanistan, also in Uruzgan.

During an address to mark Battle of Australia day, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the audience about the incident.

"Our thoughts and our prayers are with our troops, with their families and their loved ones," he said.

"So today we remember those who gave their all for this nation in the past, but let us also remember those who continue to give their all to this nation today."