KABUL: An unspecified number of policemen were killed and wounded in a gunbattle with insurgents in the country's northeast, Afghan police said.

Details about Monday's fighting in Badakhshan province were sketchy.

Deputy provincial police chief Sayed Hussain Safawi said Afghan police were deployed to Wardooj district after residents complained about violence and intimidation by the Taliban. The district is about 40 miles southeast of the provincial capital of Faizabad.

The Taliban claimed they had kidnapped 30 Afghan police and torched 20 of their vehicles.

The deputy police chief said on Tuesday that authorities sent a team to the site to investigate. He confirmed some police had been killed and wounded but gave no details.