KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) — Some two militants were killed and five persons wounded after Taliban militants attacked a local police station in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar on Monday night, a provincial police source said Tuesday.

“Three persons attacked the Breshna Kot police station in ninth police district of provincial capital Kandahar city with automatic guns and grenades, triggering a heavy clash,” the source told Xinhua anonymously.

The exchange of fire between police and the attackers started at around 06:00 p.m. Monday. The clash lasted for more than four hours, leaving two militants killed, the source added.

The injured included four security personnel and one passerby civilian.

The police official said that three militants were involved in the attack and one militant fled the scene under cover of darkness.

The Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility shortly after the attack.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different parts of the country which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.

Abdulqahar Balkhi, a purported Taliban spokesman, stated on his twitter account that the attack was part of Taliban’s offensive codenamed Hamalyat-e-Azm or Resolute Operation.

Kandahar and neighboring Helmand province are notorious for poppy growing and militancy.