Kabul - A district governor and a police chief were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, police said Tuesday.

The governor for Registan district in the southern province of Kandahar, Amir Mohammad, and district police chief Assadullah Khan were killed Monday night, Matiullah Khan, provincial police chief of Kandahar, said.

He said four bodyguards were wounded in the attack that took place near Spin Boldak, another district in the province.

Taliban insurgents took responsibility for the attack in a statement posted at the rebel website, saying the officials were killed by a mine planted by their militants.

The Islamic extremist Taliban regime was ousted by a US military invasion for harbouring Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of attacks on US cities in September 2001. (dpa)