8 militants killed in Afghan checkpoint attack

Eight militants were killed and 13 others wounded when Taliban insurgents attacked a security checkpoint in northern Afghan province of Kunduz overnight, an official said on Sunday.
"Around 30 militants armed with guns attacked an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in Shahrawan locality of Dasht-e-Archi district. The ALP responded to the attack, killing eight of them and injuring 13 others," district governor Nsruddin told Xinhua.
The ALP, or community police, was established in 2010 to protect villages and districts around the country where army and police forces have limited presence.
The governor also said no ALP member was hurt in the engagement in the province with Kunduz city as its capital, 250 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual rebel offensive against Afghan government forces and nearly 50,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country in mid-May.
In neighboring Baghlan province, three mobile phone towers were destroyed in a similar attack in Dushi district overnight, the district governor Shamsuddin Sarhadi told Xinhua earlier on Sunday.
The war-torn country is due to take over the responsibility for its own security from foreign troops by the end of the year.