Gun battle between Taliban insurgents and guards of a private security company left nine security personnel dead and injured three others in Taliban hotbed Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, police said Monday, Xinhua reported.
"The Taliban rebels attacked guards of a private security company who were providing security for a local road construction firm on Sunday night in Chah-e-Anjir area of Nad Ali district as a result nine guards of the company were killed and three other injured," provincial deputy police chief Kamaluddin Khan told Xinhua.
However, he did not identify the security firm, adding a militant has also been killed in the firefight lasting for hours.
Two more guards had also been missing, he further said.
Taliban militants, fighting Afghan and NATO-led multinational forces in Afghanistan have yet to make comments.
The Nad Ali district in south Afghanistan was recaptured with its neighboring Taliban bastion Marja district by Afghan and NATO- led troops last February.
Notorious for growing poppy and militancy, the Helmand province has been regarded as Taliban stronghold in south of war-torn Afghanistan.