Kabul- Five policemen were killed and the top criminal department police chief was wounded in explosions on the western outskirts of the capital Kabul, the interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the criminal department of the Kabul city police, was wounded in a blast in the Company area, some 10 kilometres from the city centre, when he was inspecting the scene of an overnight attack against a police post, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

Three policemen were killed in the roadside blast on Tuesday night in the same Company area when their vehicle was blown up by a mine close to their post, Bashary said.

"Paktiawal was slightly wounded, but two of his bodyguards were killed," Bashary said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Paktiawal was the target of the attack.

He said four policemen were killed and Paktiawal and several other police forces were wounded.

The militants earlier took responsibility for the first attack in a statement posted on their website and said their fighters detonated a police Ranger vehicle in the area, killing three officers.

There has been an increase in the number of attacks conducted by Taliban insurgents in and around Kabul recently.

Abdullah Wardak, provincial governor for Logar province, was killed when his vehicle was struck by a remote-controlled roadside bomb in the Paghman area, some 15 kilometres west of Kabul city, earlier this month.

In another incident, US forces detained three suspected militants including two rebel commanders in south-eastern province of Khost on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.

The arrested militants were suspected to be members of Haqqani network, an associate group of Taliban mainly active in eastern region of the country along the border with Pakistan.

Both commanders were involved in coordinating and conducting roadside and suicide attacks in the region, the statement said.

"These commanders are also believed to finance and facilitate the movement of foreign fighters into Afghanistan," it said.

A search of the compound revealed multiple AK-47s, other small arms and military-style clothing, it added. (dpa)