PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least eight Afghan police personnel were killed and two others wounded after Taliban militants attacked a security checkpoint in northern Baghlan province overnight, a local official said Thursday.

"The clashes which claimed the lives of eight police and injured two others occurred after several hundred militants stormed the checkpoint named Safar-ba-Khair with guns and rocket propelled grenades along Baghlan-Samangan main road," Safdar Mohseni, an official of the provincial council, told Xinhua.

Several militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be exactly specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the fighting.

The militants also overran the security post and took all weapons and ammunition, he said.

The province, 160 km north of Kabul, has been the scene of heavy clashes between security forces and Taliban militants for long.

Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency spreads from its traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful region in the north, where Taliban have been recruiting from among the youth.

The Afghan security forces' casualties have risen since the beginning of 2015 when Afghan soldiers and police assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops.

On Tuesday night, five army soldiers were killed and six others wounded after a Taliban tunnel bomb struck an army base in southern Kandahar province. Enditem

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