Taliban kill at least five in Afghanistan

Taliban kill at least five in Afghanistan
Taliban attacks on a number of police checkpoints in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province have left at least five policemen dead.
AVA- At least three more were wounded in the overnight attack in Arghandab district, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Kandahar's governor.
However, local TV channel 1TV reported a much higher death toll of at least 12 policemen, citing an anonymous security source.
Government spokesmen are known to downsize casualty figures.
Afghanistan has suffered from a spike in violence in recent months following the announcement in April of the Taliban's annual spring offensive.
At least 40 Afghan security force members were killed on Saturday in attacks across two provinces of Kunduz in the north and Herat in the west.
Taliban militants declared a three-day long ceasefire, from June 16-18, covering the Eid celebrations to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, after the government offered a unilateral truce on Thursday.
President Ashraf Ghani had said security forces would stop all "offensive manoeuvres" against the militants from June 12-20. The ceasefire would only apply to Taliban fighters, and not Islamic State, he said.
On Saturday, presidential palace spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi told dpa that the government could extend the truce - if the Taliban halt offensives against security forces.
Ghani offered a bilateral truce with the Taliban in February but the militants have yet to reply.