Five security personnel were killed in an overnight roadside bombing in southern Zabul province, an official said on Tuesday.
The explosion occurred on the Arghandab-Qalat highway on Monday night, Arghandab district chief Mullah Zarif told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said four police and a National Directorate of Security (NDS) official were killed in the blast that ripped through their vehicle.
Meanwhile, a former police officer was killed in Khan Village of Shah Joy district, a resident of the district, Abdul Matin, said.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed the fighters killed an Afghan Local Police deputy commander in Shah Joy.
However, Zabul security officials have not yet commented regarding the incident.
Elsewhere, a Taliban's shadow district chief and three other militants were killed in Ghorian district of western Herat province.
Police spokesman Jilani Farhad said militants stormed the Ghorian district center, but faced with stiff resistance from the Afghan forces and were pushed back.
He said Mullah Bashir, the Taliban's shadow district chief for Ghorian district, was killed along with three other militants during the clash.
