Kabul - Taliban attacked a road construction company convoy in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 17 workers and wounding 15 others, the Interior Ministry said.

The attack took place on the highway between Kabul and southern province of Kandahar, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

"Seventeen innocent workers were killed and 15 others were wounded," Bashary told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa about the attack which took place in the southern province of Zabul.

"Within half an hour, Afghan police, army and coalition forces arrived at the scene and killed seven Taliban insurgents," he said.

Bashary said that 14 other attackers were wounded in this firefight.

Taliban militants, however, said in statement posted at their website that their fighters attacked a convoy Afghan forces and killed at least 35 police forces, destroyed two of their vehicles.(dpa)