At least 10 policemen were killed on Tuesday when four Taliban insurgents carried out a gun and suicide bomb attack on the police headquarters in Puli Alam city, just south of Kabul, officials said.

At least 10 policemen were killed on Tuesday when four Taliban insurgents carried out a gun and suicide bomb attack on the police headquarters in Puli Alam city, just south of Kabul, officials said.

"Four suicide bombers attacked the police headquarters," provincial government spokesman Din Mohammad Darweish told AFP.

"One detonated himself at the gate, two others were killed in a firefight with police, but one managed to get into and detonate himself at the dining place of police forces," he said, adding that "10 police were martyred and eight injured" in the attack.

Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, police chief of Logar province where the attack took place, confirmed the toll.

The Taliban swiftly claimed responsibility for the killings, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying the suicide bombers had inflicted "heavy losses" on the police.

The insurgents have stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces before the summer "fighting season," taking advantage of the withdrawal of most foreign troops from the war-torn country in late December.