Afghan police, U.S. troops kill three Taliban

The latest clash took place in the same province where a Romanian soldier was killed by an explosion on Thursday.

Afghan police also killed three Taliban commanders and their two bodyguards in the southern province of Uruzgan on Thursday, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

The Afghan army killed one Taliban militant in the southern province of Kandahar, the Defense Ministry said.

In northern Afghanistan, the governor of Khanaqa district in Jowzjan province was killed in a knife attack on Saturday, a provincial spokesman said, blaming Taliban insurgents.

Afghan officials have often been the target of Taliban attacks since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Islamist movement in late 2001. Insurgents killed the commander of the highway police in Kunduz province in the north on Friday, provincial police said.

The Taliban launched more than 140 suicide attacks and targeted dozens of government officials last year in their campaign to overthrow the pro-Western government and eject the 50,000 foreign troops from the country.

(Additional reporting by Tahir Qadiry; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood)