Eight Taliban insurgents were killed and 15 others were injured by Afghan police in the southern Kandahar province, the provincial police chief told Xinhua on Sunday.

Some Taliban militants blocked the road connecting Kandahar city, the provincial capital, and the western Herat province in Hawz Madad area of Jalai district Saturday afternoon, provincial police chief Ghulam Rasoul Aka said, adding that they tried to stop and attack convoys providing logistics to foreign forces.

Local police rushed to the site and launched an attack against the insurgent, during which eight rebels were killed and 15 others injured, he said.

The militants escaped the site after a battle of several hours, leaving dead bodies, weapons, motorbikes over there.

Jalai and its neighboring Panjwai district have been the stronghold of Taliban militants and the focus of a major NATO military operation in September, during which NATO forces said they killed over 500 insurgents.

Due to rising Taliban-linked violence this year, Afghanistan has plunged into the worst spate of bloodshed since the Taliban regime was toppled down nearly five years ago.

Over 2,600 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed in the country this year.

Source: Xinhua