ISLAMABAD, June 2: As many as eight Taliban fighters and at least five soldiers died in heavy clashes in Afghanistan late Tuesday, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Taliban rebels announced a large-scale operation across Afghanistan before the country's first election in September. Casualty reports were contradictory in regard to a heavy attack by a large group of Taliban fighters in the southern Zabul province on Tuesday night.

A spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry said eight Taliban militiamen and two soldiers were killed in the two-hour gunfight in the Shajoi district. He added that a number of Arab militias had been fighting alongside the Taliban.

Earlier, Afghan Islamic Press had quoted an Afghan military commander as saying that at least three soldiers were killed and three injured in the clash. Large parts of Zabul were now under the control of the Taliban, he said.

In a separate attack, three Afghan soldiers of a joint US-Afghan special unit were killed by an unidentified gunman late Tuesday in Latack village outside the eastern Afghan city of Khost, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on Wednesday. -dpa