A local official in Afghanistan has said that at least 11 soldiers were killed during a militant attack on a checkpoint in the western part of the country.

Mohammad Naser Mehri, a spokesman for the governor of Farah Province, said four soldiers were wounded in the July 14 gunfight in Bala Buluk district.

Nine insurgents were reportedly killed and 13 injured.

There has been no claim of responsibility, but Mehri blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying the group had recently stepped up offensive actions in the province.

In Helmand Province, in the south of the country, a police officer was killed by a suicide car bomber who struck a checkpoint the same day, the spokesman for the Helmand governor's office said. Eleven other police and soldiers were injured in the attack, which occurred outside the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa