Taliban militants kill five policemen in northern Afghanistan

Afghan policemen gather at the site of a bombing on the police headquarters in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, on June 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

At least five Afghan policemen have been killed and another six have been wounded in a fierce battle with the Taliban militant group in the country’s troubled north, security sources say.

The casualties were caused after heavily-armed militants launched a three-pronged push in the northern province of Baghlan.

Police official Amir Gul Hussainkhil said police repelled the Taliban assault in Baghlan's Jaded district on Tuesday. Intense fighting is still underway in some areas, the official added. 

Asadullah Shabaz, the provincial council chief, said the road between Baghlan and neighboring Kunduz province remained closed because of the fighting.

He said several houses had been damaged and hundreds of residents had been relocated.

Reports said local schools and markets were also closed across the troubled region.

The Taliban, meanwhile, claimed in a statement that they killed several members of Afghan security forces and wounded at least three dozen others in the deadly raid.

Afghan forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the Taliban to contain insurgency in various parts of the country.

Taliban militants were removed from power following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, but they have stepped up activities in recent months, attempting to overrun several regions.

Afghan Border Police personnel walk through an outpost damaged in a US airstrike in Nad Ali district of Helmand province on June 10, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations recently expressed deep concern over the rise in the number of civilians killed or wounded in Afghanistan.

According to the mid-year report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan published on Monday, 1,662 people were killed and more than 3,500 injured in the war-torn country in the first half of 2017, showing a sharp rise in the civilian casualties.

During the past 16 years, the Taliban militants have been conducting terrorist attacks across the country, killing and displacing civilians.

In addition, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors.

Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.