Norwegian soldier killed in Afghanistan

(Corrects military spokesman's rank in paragraph 5)

OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - A Norwegian special forces soldier was killed in an exchange of gunfire with suspected insurgents in Afghanistan on Monday, defence officials said.

The shooting took place in Lowgar province in central Afghanistan where a Norwegian patrol was on a reconnaissance mission with Afghan security forces, the Norwegian armed forces said in a statement.

Norway has around 750 soldiers serving in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led international force sent there after U.S. and Afghan opposition forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.

The casualty on Monday was Norway's second soldier killed in Afghanistan, following one in 2004.

"It has not been confirmed, but there is every reason to believe it was insurgents (who did the shooting)," Lieutenant Colonel Petter Lindqvist, a spokesman for the Norwegian military, said.

In May, three Norwegians were wounded and one Finnish soldier killed in a bomb attack in Maimana in northern Afghanistan.

"The Norwegian special forces are making a formidable contribution to securing stability in Afghanistan and to increase stability for the entire international community," Defence Minister Anne-Grete Stroem-Erichsen said on Monday.