The Latest: Taliban attack checkpoint, kill 5 Afghan troops

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Latest on developments in Afghanistan (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

An Afghan official says at least five soldiers were killed when their checkpoint was attacked by the Taliban in western Farah province.

Mohammad Naser Mehri, the governor's spokesman in Farah, says two other soldiers were wounded in the attack on Tuesday in the Bala Buluk district.

He says six Taliban fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the battle, which lasted three hours.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Farah, Mehri blamed the Taliban who are active and have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces.

The Taliban claimed an earlier attack on Tuesday, in eastern Ghazni province, that killed four policemen.

Also on Tuesday, Kabul authorities raised the death toll from Sunday's Islamic State suicide bombing in the Afghan capital to 60 dead, after three peole died of their wounds in hospital.

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10 a.m.

An Afghan official says a Taliban attack has killed four local policemen and wounded seven in eastern Ghazni province.

Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, says the attack took place early on Tuesday morning when the insurgents targeted a security post belonging to the local polce force in the district of Jaghatu.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Noori said the gunbattle lasted several hours and that the Taliban used artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

It has been a particularly deadly week in Afghanistan.

A suicide bombing by the Islamic State group targeted a voter registration center in Kabul on Sunday, killing 57, and on Monday, Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan killed 18 soldiers and policemen, underscoring the struggles the government faces to rein in militant assaults.