KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Afghan police killed 32 militants, including several Arab fighters, in clashes overnight in the south of the war-torn nation, provincial officials said on Wednesday.

Police were on a patrol in a village in Zabul province near the border with Pakistan when they came under attack, Ghulam Jailani, a provincial officer said. Twenty two militants, seven of them Arabs, were killed in the ensuing clash, he said.

"We suffered no casualties despite coming under attack," Jailani said.

Fighting also erupted in Helmand province, a bastion of Taliban Islamists, overthrown in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Ten rebel fighters were killed.

Poorly equipped and lowly paid, the Afghan police are a frequent target of Taliban attacks and have lost hundreds of men.

The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment on the latest clashes, but in the past they have dismissed government figures of their losses as propaganda.

Violence has sharply increased this year in Afghanistan where the al Qaeda-backed Taliban is leading the insurgency to topple the government and drive out the foreign forces backing it.

More than 17,000 people have been killed since 2005 when the Taliban relaunched their insurgency, the bloodiest period since their removal. (Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

AlertNet news is provided by