Taliban rebels raided a remote security post, killing one policeman and wounding four, in the latest incident in a wave of violence that has raised alarm as thousands of peacekeepers prepare to deploy to the country.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Wednesday?s raid on the post in the southern province of Nimroz.

Provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad said yesterday about 60 Taliban were involved in the attack that killed one policeman and wounded four. Blood stains found after the one-hour clash indicated the Taliban had suffered casualties too but they had taken wounded or dead comrades with them when they fled, Azad said.

?We are hunting for them,? he told Reuters by telephone, referring to the attackers. The Taliban have been fighting US-led forces since they were ousted for harbouring Osama bin Laden weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Violence has intensified in recent months with a wave of roadside and suicide bombings killing dozens of people as Britain, Canada and the Netherlands prepare to lead an expansion of a NATO peacekeeping force into the volatile south.

Most of the recent attacks have been in the south and east, near the border with Pakistan, and many Afghans say their eastern neighbour is not doing enough to stop insurgents launching attacks from the safety of Pakistani soil. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Pakistan to intensify its efforts to root out terrorism during a visit to Pakistan on Wednesday.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said terrorism was a common enemy and the two countries had to fight it together.

Pakistan has had tens of thousands of soldiers battling foreign al Qaeda-linked militants on its border with Afghanistan, but Afghan officials say Taliban in Pakistan have not been tackled with equal vigour.

In a separate incident, Taliban captured and killed an intelligence officer in the eastern province of Ghazni on Wednesday, the provincial governor said.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for kidnapping two intelligence officers in the western province of Farah on Monday. Their bodies were found dumped in a desert the next day.