KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 police and eight militants were killed after a dozen Taliban militants stormed a security checkpoint in Ali Abad district in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province early on Tuesday morning, a provincial source said.

"In the latest fighting, which erupted at 1:30 a.m. local time in Harrzbegi locality, the militants targeted a checkpoint manning by Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel. Up to 15 ALP police were killed and two others wounded in the clashes which lasted for hours," Mohammad Yousuf Ayoubi from provincial council told Xinhua.

The Afghan National Police forces arrived at the site and secured the area following the fighting in the district, in the south of provincial capital Kunduz city, the source said.

The wounded were shifted to a provincial hospital in Kunduz.

Local police is a local security entity composed of villagers to defend their community where the presence of national army or national police is slim to ensure law and order.

Fighting rages across the war-torn country and clashes between security forces and Taliban have been continuing in most of the country's 34 provinces since early April when Taliban insurgents launched a yearly rebel offensive.

The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces remain in control of most of Afghanistan's population centers and all of 34 provincial capitals, but Taliban insurgents control large portions of rural areas, staging coordinated large-scale attacks against cities and districts from time to time. Enditem

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