Taliban storm police checkpoint in N Afghanistan, wounds one

Taliban militants raided a police outpost in the relatively peaceful Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan early Monday, wounding a police constable, a police official said.

"Armed militants raided a border police checkpoint in Imam Sahib District at 3 a.m. local time today, injuring a constable," a senior police officer Amir Mohammad told Xinhua.

Police returned fire and inflected casualties on attackers, he further said.

The official asserted that police killed a militants' commander Shikh Akbar and injured two of his men in the gun battle lasted for a while. However, Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the claim, adding his men have killed a border police commander Zulmai Khan in the attack. No Taliban fighters were killed, he further stressed.

Kunduz, a relatively peaceful province until early 2009, has been the scene of increasing militancy over the past several months.

Source:Xinhua