Kunduz, Afghanistan  - Six security personnel were killed in Taliban attacks in northern Afghanistan, where eight militants were also killed by Afghan and NATO forces, officials said Tuesday.

Taliban militants attacked a unit of private security guards in Chardarah district in the northern province of Kunduz on Monday night, killing four guards and injuring another, Abdul Wahid Omarkhel, the district governor, said.

The guards were providing security for a bridge construction project in Rahmat Bai village, he said, adding that a Taliban fighter was also killed in the firefight. The construction is funded by the German military's Provincial Reconstruction Team in the province.

Meanwhile, two militants including a district-level commander were killed in an operation jointly conducted by Afghan, German and US forces in Sarakbala area of the same district on Monday, Mohammad Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief, said.

He said two pro-government militia fighters were also killed in the operation.

The provincial authorities in Kunduz have recruited dozens of local villagers to fight against the Taliban militants, who have extended their writ in the previously peaceful province in the past two years.

Also on Monday, five insurgents including two rebel commanders were killed in a firefight with Afghan and international forces in Kunduz's Ali Abad district, Yaqoubi said.

Maulawi Noorullah, one of the commanders, who was also acting as the district chief of Ali Abad for the Taliban's shadow government was also among those killed, he added.

Taliban militants, who were forced from power in late 2001 by a US-led military invasion, made a dramatic comeback some four years ago and set up a parallel government by appointing provincial authorities in areas they partly control.

The militants have become increasingly powerful in southern and eastern regions every year since 2003, but they have penetrated new areas in northern and western regions, waging a nation-wide insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and more than 100,000 international troops in the country. (dpa)