KHOST, Dec 7: Six Taliban militants and four Afghan soldiers were killed during a fighting in south-eastern Afghanistan, military officials said on Tuesday.

The fighting erupted on Monday night when hundreds of militants armed with machineguns and rockets attacked a checkpoint in Khost province, military commander Khyal Baz Khan said.

"We lost four soldiers in the fighting - we killed up to six enemy in the direct gunfight," the commander said. The attack happened on the eve of president Hamid Karzai's inauguration as Afghanistan's first elected leader.

Mullah Abdul Samad, who claims to be one of the Taliban's spokesmen, phoned AFP Tuesday and claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming to have killed "tens of government troops" in the fighting and losing only one of its own. -AFP