Five policemen died and the top criminal department police chief was injured in blasts on the western outskirts of the capital Kabul, the interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the criminal department of the Kabul city police, was wounded in a blast in the Company area, some 10 kilometres from the city centre, on Wednesday morning when he was inspecting the scene of an overnight attack against a police post in the area, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman, said.

Three policemen were killed in the roadside blast on Tuesday night in the same Company area when their vehicle was blown up by a mine close to their post, Bashary said.

The second blast, which occurred on Wednesday morning, apparently targetting Paktiawal, Bashary said, adding, "Paktiawal was slightly wounded, but two of his bodyguards were killed."

The Taliban took responsibility for the first attack in a statement posted on their website and said their militants detonated a police Ranger vehicle in the area, killing three officers.

There has been an increase in the number of attacks conducted by Taliban insurgents in and around Kabul recently.

Abdullah Wardak, provincial governor for Logar province, was killed when his vehicle was struck by a remote-controlled roadside bomb in the Paghman area, some 15 kilometres west of Kabul city, earlier this month.