KABUL  -   At least seven members of the Afghan Border Police got killed in a Taliban attack close to the disputed border with Pakistan in Kandahar province, an official said on Saturday.

Aziz Ahmad, spokesman for the provincial governor, told Anadolu Agency the Taliban militants stormed security check posts in Nava border town of the Spin Boldak district on late Friday.

Ahmed said the clashes continued till early morning on Saturday, adding seven border guards and 16 militants were killed in the exchange of fire.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on social media.

Kandahar has been known as the birthplace of the Taliban uprising in the 1990s. However, in the past many years, the province has been relatively peaceful.

Gen Abdul Raziq, the slain police chief for Kandahar, has been credited for ensuring relative peace here.

After surviving dozens of attempts on his life, Raziq lost his life in October last year when a Taliban infiltrator opened fire on him outside the provincial governor’s office during the visit by US Commander in Afghanistan Gen Austin Scott Miller.

Meanwhile, Afghan forces’ crackdown against Taliban outfit have left 13 insurgents dead in Almar district of the northern Faryab province, an army statement released Saturday said.

The operation, according to the statement, launched by units of Special Forces against Taliban hideouts in parts of the restive Almar district on Friday, destroyed the militants’ trenches and weapon caches.

The statement did not say if there were casualties on security personnel. Taliban militants have not commented on the report.