At least two Afghan policemen were killed and three others injured after the Taliban militants ambushed a police convoy, said Afghan officials.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf claimed that 36 policemen were killed in Thursday's attack, in the country's volatile Kandahar province, but insurgents routinely exaggerate their gains and casualties among government forces.

Police spokesman Zia Durrani says the attack triggered a protracted firefight that lasted nine hours.

Durrani claimed after the firefight was over, bodies of several Taliban fighters still lay by the roadside at the site of the attack at Shah Wali Kot, located about 80 kilometers from the city of Kandahar, the capital of a southern province by the same name.

Kandahar is strategically important because it borders Pakistan and was the spiritual heartland of the Taliban.