"The car bomb attack was stopped and then the fight or clash started, during the clash nine militants were killed and six others were injured," Kandahar police chief spokesman Jamal Nasir Barakzai said in a statement seen by a Sputnik correspondent.

According to a security source, Taliban militants launched a car bomb attack on an Afghan National Army base in the Sharghi area of Khakrez district on Sunday morning.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement seen by a Sputnik correspondent, the Taliban said that the army had suffered heavy casualties as a consequence of the attack.

Neither the security source, nor the police chief spokesman, provided details of military personnel killed in Sunday’s clash.

On December 31, sources close to Sputnik stated that the Taliban wishes to agree to an unofficial ceasefire with government forces in order to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid. A ceasefire is also seen to be a means of securing the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has struggled to contain the Taliban movement for almost two decades. The conflict-stricken country continues to serve as a breeding ground for various insurgent and militant groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State terrorist organizations (both groups banned in Russia).