Kunduz, Afghanistan  - Two police officers and eight Taliban militants were killed in a clash in northern province of Kunduz as the militants attempted to attack a district centre, police said Thursday.

Around 100 Taliban insurgents massed near Dashti Archi district centre on Wednesday, a day after their attack in the same area left a police chief and his bodyguard dead, Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"Police got information about the Taliban's intention and in a preemptive attempt, our forces attacked the militants and killed eight of them," he said, adding that 13 other militants were wounded.

Two police officers were also killed and four others were wounded, he said, adding the rest of the militants fled the area.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid rejected the Afghan police's account, saying that the gun-battle erupted after their fighters ambushed a police convoy in the area.

Mujahid claimed that 25 police were killed in the clash.

The firefight came a day after Noor Khan, the district police chief of Dashti Archi, and brother of Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor, was killed in a Taliban attack in the same district.

Northern Afghanistan was the safest region in the country until 2007 but has seen a surge in Taliban-led attacks.

A 10-day operation involving some 300 German troops and nearly 1,000 Afghan soldiers cleared Chardarah district, the main hotbed for Taliban in the province, and left some 17 insurgents dead.

But the militants came back to the district after the joint operation ended late last month, posing a serious threat to the August 20 presidential election. (dpa)