KANDAHAR, Jan 27: Dozens of Taliban rebels attacked the office of a district police chief in southern Afghanistan before dawn on Friday, triggering a shootout that left seven assailants dead and five Afghan police officers wounded, police said.

The battle staged in Registan district, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the city of Kandahar, said Haji Sher Agha, the district police chief.

He said the surviving rebels, armed with assault rifles and other weapons, fled afterward with an unknown number of their wounded. Afghan security forces were looking for them.

“We killed seven Taliban and we have their bodies,” he said.

Hours later, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying Afghan police officers in neighbouring Helmand province, killing two of them and injuring two others.

The incident took place in the Gritshk district, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) west of Kandahar, said Haji Khan Mohammed, the district police chief.

He said the dead and injured had been taken to a hospital, and that security forces were still investigating.

Khan Mohammed did not blame anyone for the attack, but previous such incidents have been blamed on remnants of the former Taliban regime, who often target Afghan and coalition forces in the country.—-AP