The Tuesday evening attack sparked a gunfight that raged intensely for two hours and then continued with sporadic shooting until just before dawn on Wednesday, according to Abdul Aziz Ghyrat, the police chief for Jawzjan province.

"They targeted Abduraman village. The people there planned to join the local police and the Taliban had heard about this plan," Ghyrat said.

The Afghan Local Police, or ALP, is a controversial new program through which villages can select a group of local men to be trained and equipped by the Afghan government to fight the Taliban. Its American and Afghan backers argue that the force is needed to defend areas that are under threat from the Taliban but don't have a strong formal police presence.

Critics, however, say the program essentially funds private militias.

AFP