KABUL: Taliban militants stormed a police post in northwestern Afghanistan early Sunday killing four policemen, while three civilians died in a bomb blast in the country's south, authorities said.

The policemen were killed after their remote post was attacked by Taliban rebels riding motorbikes in Faryab province, provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziayee said. The Taliban also suffered casualties, the police chief said, but he had no details. "The attackers cowardly escaped after we sent reinforcements," he added.

In volatile Kandahar province, a mother and her son were killed when a motorbike they were riding was blown up by a roadside bomb, also on Sunday, the interior ministry said, blaming the attack on insurgents.

'Three civilians, a mother with kids were killed when a mine... planted by the enemies of Afghanistan exploded under their motorbike,' the statement said.

On Saturday an army soldier was killed in a gun battle with Taliban which also left two rebels dead in the central province of Ghazni, a place which sees regular Taliban unrest, the provincial police chief said. The soldiers were patrolling when they came under attack by the insurgents armed with rockets and heavy machine guns, commander Khyalbaz Sherzai said.