Five Afghan policemen were killed Friday following a clash in the country's western province of Herat, a provincial police source said on Saturday.

"An unspecified number of armed insurgents laid an ambush against a unit of Afghan border police force in bordering district of Gulran late Friday triggering a clash that left five border policemen dead," a police official with the fast-reaction unit of border police in the province, Mohammad Saliman told Xinhua via phone.

He said a police vehicle was also damaged in the incident in the province 640 km west of capital Kabul.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban insurgents have in the past been blamed for attacking the Afghan and NATO-led forces.

In another development, four armed insurgents were killed by the Afghan security forces in Barmal district of eastern Paktika province earlier Saturday.

"Four armed insurgents including two suicide bombers were shot dead by Afghan security forces at around 10:00 a.m. local time near the Barmal district bazaar," the provincial government said in a statement, adding that the killed insurgents had the intention of attacking a district headquarters and a nearby Afghan and foreign troop's joint coordination center in the bordering district.

It said no Afghan police, army or civilian were injured in the incident in the district bordering Pakistan.

The Taliban insurgents, who stepped up their attacks on the Afghan and NATO-led troops since a rebel offensive was launched in May 2011 in the war-ravaged country, has yet to make comments.

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