KABUL, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Seven police and five Taliban insurgents were killed in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province Monday as they came in contact, provincial police chief Syed Aqa Saqib said.

    "The police were busy in destroying poppy fields in Miwand district when Taliban insurgents opened fire and police reencountered. As a result, seven policemen and five rebels were killed in the fire exchange which lasted for three hours," Saqib told Xinhua.

    Two more policemen sustained injuries in the clash, he added.

    Taliban outfit which is said to have encouraged farmers to cultivate poppy has not made any comment.

    Conflicts and Taliban-related violence have left more than 340 people dead so far this year in war-torn Afghanistan, where Taliban militants recently have vowed to launch the "Spring offensive" to intensify their guerrilla-style attacks on national army and foreign troops.