KABUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 27 Taliban
insurgents have been killed and 24 others detained in 10 cleanup
operations carried out by the Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition
troops in different provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's
Interior Ministry said Thursday morning.
"The joint operations were launched by Afghan police, army and the
NATO-led coalition forces in Kabul, Laghman, Takhar, Kunduz, Zabul,
Logar, Ghazni, Herat, Farah and Helmand provinces over the last 24 hours
and a total of eight other insurgents were wounded in the mentioned
raids," the ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without
saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
The Taliban insurgents, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have yet to make comments.


The Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have
intensified cleanup operations against insurgents recently. Records kept
by Xinhua, based on figures released by the Interior Ministry, reveal
that about 305 insurgents have been killed, 56 wounded and over 150
others detained by the joint forces across the county since Aug. 1.
However, the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings across the country.


In the eve of the Muslims' festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the
end of Ramadan or fasting month, the war-torn country has experienced a
string of deadly attacks that left over 60 people dead and more than 180
injured on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A total of seven Afghan army soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in northern Baghlan province earlier Thursday.