Official: Nearly 50 militants killed in Afghan raids within day

Nearly 50 militants were killed in police operations in different Afghan provinces in the last 24 hours, said the Interior Ministry Tuesday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several cleanup operations with the cooperation of army, intelligence agency and the NATO-led coalition forces, killing 49 armed Taliban, wounding eight and arresting 11 other armed militants," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. The raids were carried out in Helmand, Farah, Herat, Logar, Uruzgan, Zabul, Kandahar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Kunduz provinces, in noted. The ANP also discovered and confiscated some amount of ammunition besides defusing several improvised explosive device ( IED) and seizing 270 kg of opium, the statement said without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces. "During the same 24 hour period, the ANP discovered and defused eight anti-vehicle mines placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Kandahar, Badghis and Nangarhar provinces," it said. The Taliban has not made any comments at the time of filing this report. The Afghan security forces have intensified operations against Taliban and other militant groups recently. But the insurgent responded by bombings and armed attacks. On Monday morning, 11 border policemen were killed when Taliban launched an armed attack on a checkpoint in Shorabak district of southern Kandahar province, bordering Pakistan.