The Taliban insurgents killed 16 policemen during an attack on a police checkpoint in Maywand district of troubled Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, an interior ministry spokesman said Monday. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari told Xinhua that a group of militants attacked the police checkpoint on Saturday, and as a result of the fighting, 16 policemen were martyred. It was unclear if there was casualties from the insurgents, he added.