Security forces eliminate 17 Taliban militants

KABUL, officials said on Tuesday.

Thirteen Taliban insurgents were killed and two others, including an Uzbek, were detained during ground and aerial operations in the Musakhel district of southeastern Khost province, border police commander Col. Taj Mohammad told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The security operations were carried out by Afghan border police and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed six of their fighters were killed in the airstrike.

In another incident, four bomb planters were killed in an ISAF airstrike on Monday night when they were returning home after planting roadside bombs in the Zormat district of neighbouring Paktia province, said Gulab Shah, the district chief.

Meanwhile, a civilian was killed during a clash between Taliban fighters and police in the Sinak area on the outskirts of Qalat city, capital of southern Zabul province, said police spokesman Rafiullah Rafi.

However, a resident of the area, Naimatullah, said a 60-year-old man was killed in police firing, while the police spokesman accused Taliban of shooting the senior citizen.

A policeman was killed, another policeman and a civilian wounded on Monday night when a police vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Tori area on the outskirts of Tirinkot, the capital of Uruzgan, said Farid Aial, provincial police spokesman.

Ezatullah, a doctor on duty at the Uruzgan Civil Hospital, said the injured were in stable condition.

Taliban fighters claimed responsibility for the detonation, saying they killed eight policemen.

myn/vp

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