Police last Tuesday made what Afghan authorities described as a tactical withdrawal from the remote Ghorak district of southern Kandahar province after insurgents stormed it that same day.

"Afghan forces recaptured Ghorak district from the Taliban on Sunday night," Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid told reporters.

He said Afghan forces did not suffer any casualties and added that he had no information about whether any rebels were killed.

The Taliban also took the nearby district of Myanishen last weekend when a small police contingent fled. It was recaptured by government forces within days.

The Taliban, whose five-year Islamic regime was toppled by US-led forces in late 2001, have overrun several under-policed district centres in the south and west but have usually been pushed out after a few days.

Authorities play down the significance of these "captures", saying the targeted districts are remote and have weak security.

The militants however have held for months Musa Qala district in Helmand province, which adjoins Kandahar, and are said to control several others in the area.

Earlier Afghan and Nato forces killed 13 Taliban militants in a day-long battle in southern Afghanistan, in which three policemen also died, a provincial police chief said yesterday.

The Taliban fighters attacked a police post in Zehri district of Kandahar province early Sunday, killing three policemen and leaving two others wounded, Sayed Aqa Saqib told AFP.

A gunfight erupted and "13 Taliban were killed including a Taliban commander after Afghan and Nato forces went to support the police post under attack," said Saqib.

The fighting finished late Sunday, he said.

Kandahar, the birthplace of the hardline Taliban movement, has been among the areas hardest hit by a wave of militant attacks, which have killed thousands of people.