TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Anti-government militants' ambush against police claimed three lives including a senior police officer in the northern Takhar province on Sunday, provincial government spokesman Mohammad Jawad Hajiri said.

"The bloody ambush carried out by Taliban rebels on Khanabad-Taluqan road today morning killed Shah Tawos, the commander of Civil Order Police, along with two of his bodyguards and injuring four others," Hajiri told Xinhua.

Taliban militants also suffered casualties in the firefight, the official said.

The armed outfit, fighting the government to regain power, hasn't made a comment yet.