KABUL, Nov 8: At least eight people were killed when suspected Taliban attacked government offices in troubled southeast Afghanistan amid a wave of renewed activity by militants, officials said on Saturday.

The militants attacked Khak-e-Afghan administrative building in Zabul province at 1:00 am on Friday, Zabul deputy governor Mawlawi Mohammad Omar told AFP by satellite phone from the provincial capital Qalat, 340 kilometres southwest of Kabul.

One government militiaman was killed in the fighting which lasted three hours.

“Seven to eight Taliban bodies were also seen being carried by Taliban fighters early in the morning in nearby villages,” Omar said.

The Taliban also kidnapped four close relatives of the district chief and threatened to kill them unless the governor surrendered the district to them, he said.—AFP