Kabul, May 22 (RHC)-- At least 21 people, most of them security forces, have been killed in militant attacks across Afghanistan. According to official reports, a large group of militants targeted several police checkpoints in Yamgan district of the northeastern Badakhshan province, killing six policemen and wounding three others.

General Fazeluddin Ayar, the province's police chief, said the fighting started late Tuesday and lasted until Wednesday. He said that Afghan army forces were deployed to the region to help police pull back the militants. At least five militants were killed in the gun battle.

In the eastern Laghman province, the militants also killed four policemen in an attack on a police base in Alingar district. The militants dressed in women clothes and used machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades in the attack, said Sarhadi Zwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in both provinces, saying they were part of their "Spring Offensive."

Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and seven others, including senior local official Abdul Khaliq, were injured in a bombing attack in a government building in Hasarak district in the eastern Nangarhar province.