Suspected Taliban militants attacked two police checkpoints in Afghanistan late Saturday, the day after another attack on a checkpoint sparked coalition retaliation that left 41 insurgents dead.

The most recent attacks targeted police checkpoints along a highway in southern Afghanistan that links Kabul with Kandahar.

About 30 insurgents laid siege to the police posts in Zabul province's Qalat district, about 100 kilometres northeast of Kandahar, Zabul police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhail said.

Fourteen insurgents were killed in the intense firefight that lasted about 30 minutes, Malakhail told The Associated Press.

Afghan police reported no casualties, but a Taliban spokesman claimed seven police officers were killed, and militants burned one of the police posts. Those claims have not been verified.

On Friday, Canadian soldiers were dispatched after another checkpoint was attacked. Though they arrived several hours after the attack began, the battle was still raging, and a Canadian light armoured vehicle sustained a hit from a rocket propelled grenade. No soldiers were injured in the strike.

CTV's Sarah Galashan, reporting from Kandahar, said the occupants of the LAV III returned fire and believed they may have hit their attacker because no more shots were fired.

A coalition airstrike was then launched against the attackers. American Apache attack helicopters were sent to fight the insurgents, along with two British Harrier jetfighters and an unknown number of U.S. A-10 tank-buster aircraft. The American helicopters apparently fired rockets at the attackers, The Canadian Press reported.

Later, Canadian troops patrolled villages southwest of Kandahar as part of coalition forces that were hunting for Taliban who may have escaped after the skirmish, or been wounded.

Also on Friday another coalition airstrike was deployed to the village of Sartak, where Taliban fighters were believed to have retreated and were thought to be gathering for an attack on Kandahar. Afghan security forces backed by U.S.-led coalition helicopters led the attack.

Assadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar, said 41 insurgents were killed and 11 were taken prisoner in Friday's fighting.

Khalid also said six Afghan police officers were killed, nine were injured, and 13 civilians were wounded including a woman and a young girl.

"Certainly it was a tough day for them," Galashan said. "We have learned from Col. Ian Hope that the Afghan police force lost at least two of its leaders and high-ranking officials."

Hope, however, praised the Afghan police for their willingness to engage the enemy. He said the lightly-armed officers had "grit."

"The Afghan police are very lightly armed. They have no body armour, they have no armoured vehicles, they have no automatic weapons, they have no RPGs," Hope said.

With a report from CTV's Sarah Galashan