ASADABAD (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents abducted around 50 off-duty Afghan policemen in an ambush in a volatile province in northeastern Afghanistan, the militant group and provincial officials said on Sunday. Taliban-led militants have stepped up their fight this year against the Afghan government and its Western backers at a time when Kabul has announced security responsibilities for seven areas will be handed to Afghan forces in July. The policemen were abducted by militants in the Chapa Dara district of remote northeastern Kunar province after returning from neighboring Nuristan province where they had traveled to collect their salaries, Nuristan governor Jamaluddin Badr said. The policemen were in civilian clothes and had no weapons with them, Badr told Reuters from Nuristan. Mohammad Farooq, a senior police officer in Nuristan, confirmed around 50 policemen had been kidnapped by insurgents. In an email statement sent to media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group was holding 50 policemen and the groups military council for the area would decide their fate. Kunar and Nuristan are remote and mountainous provinces that share a porous border with tribal areas of neighbouring Pakistan.