A nighttime Taliban attack on police checkpoints in the strategic Wardak province has left seven local policemen dead, Russia Today reported Thursday.

The Taliban captured five of the checkpoints attacked in Jalrez district on Wednesday night, said Zakir Hussain Sultani, the deputy provincial governor in Wardak, the area south of the capital, Kabul.

Intense fighting was still under way in the area on Thursday.

Two Afghan army tanks were struck by a roadside mine, the official said.