KABUL, Afghanistan, April 6 (UPI) -- The Taliban reportedly has occupied the center of Khak district in Zabul province in southern Afghanistan, China's Xinhua reported Friday.
The militants occupied the area Thursday night, Xinhua reported, quoting Gulab Shah Alikhail, a spokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul's capital Qalat. It gave no other details.
Separately, China's People's Daily reported Taliban militants in another incident killed five guards at a construction camp in the same Zabul province. Four others were injured in the incident. The reason for the Taliban attack was not clear.
The rising Taliban-linked insurgency in Afghanistan has claimed more than 600 lives this year, the People's Daily reported.
There was no confirmation yet from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force about the capture of Khak.
The sparsely populated Zabul, near the border with Pakistan, is seen as a fertile ground for the current insurgency.