The Chack district Chief Mohammad Ismael Wafa was killed with his son on Sunday in a militant attack in the central province of Maidan Wardak, in the central east region of Afghanistan, an official said.

Ismael was on his way to office at about 8:30am when insurgent shot him dead, the governor’s spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The slain district chief’s son was also succumbed to his serious wounds in helicopter when the security personnel were taking him to a health facility of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Wafa’s house was just 200 metres away from the district headquarters, but the attackers managed gun him down and escape.

Last week, he had escaped unhurt in a blast in front of his house.  Wafa had been working as the administrative head of the town for the past two years and head of Daimirdad district in the province.

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said the movement was behind Wafa’s killing.

Also Taliban claimed that their fighters in an encounter with the US troops, killed 5 invaders and left another 5 injured in the capital, of Wardak province on Saturday morning.

Separately, in the afternoon hours of the day, Taliban fought the US-led troops elsewhere in the capital of this province, leaving 5 soldiers dead with another four wounded on the same day. But NATO forces have so far not confirmed the report.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Defense in Afghanistan confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal saying there had been an 11 percent increase in rebel activities in Afghanistan in the past three months.

The increase corresponds with the start of the Taliban's spring offensive.

The Wall Street Journal article cited a Nato official as saying that June had seen the highest number of monthly attacks in almost two years, with more than 3,000 incidents, including firefights and bomb blasts.

The upturn comes as foreign forces continue their withdrawal from Afghanistan.