LASHKARGAH/KABUL): Twenty-eight insurgents and two civilians were killed and scores of others wounded in separate incidents of violence across the country over the past 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday.
Twenty-five rebels were killed during a string of operations involving Afghan troops in the Sangin district of southern Helmand province, the 215th Maiwand Military Crops said in a statement.
Another five fighters were injured and 15 weapons and 30 mines seized during Tuesday’s operations, it said, claiming the ANA soldiers remained unhurt.
The Corps deputy commander Gen. Ghulam Farooq Parwani confirmed the operations and the casualties inflicted on militants, saying the area had been cleared of the insurgents.
The Taliban said nothing about the operations in Sangin, but their spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahamdi, claimed the fighters killed and injured 10 foreign soldiers in the Kanji district.
In Kandahar, three militants were killed and a fourth injured when a bomb went off inside a house in the 5th police district of Kandahar city, the provincial capital, on Tuesday night.
Javed Faisal, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the house was used by the rebels as a secret depot for explosives. He said a bomb-rigged motorcycle had exploded inside the house.
Police seized arms and ammunitions from the house later on.
In Kabul, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said nearly 21 insurgents were killed and nine others wounded during operations over the past 24 hours in Kabul, Nangarhar, Faryab, Helmand, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Paktia and Paktika provinces.
A MoI statement said 27 additional suspects were arrested and a large quantity of weapons, explosives and drugs confiscated.
Two-hundred and seventy seven kilograms of drugs, 10 AK-47 assault rifles with 33 magazines, 15 hand grenades and landmines, a rocket launcher and six motorbikes were seized during the day night operations.
Additionally, 40 roadside mines, the Taliban’s weapon of choice, two tonnes of explosives were seized and defused in northern Baghlan province, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, another Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected the ministry’s claim as baseless, saying the government usually killed ordinary civilians in the name of Taliban.
Giving no exact number for casualties, Mujahid said a number of Afghan and foreign soldiers were killed and wounded during rebel attacks in the mentioned provinces.
Elsewhere, two civilians were killed and a third injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in southern Zabul province.
The incident took place late on Tuesday in the Sarkhogan area on the outskirts of Qalat, the provincial capital, police spokesman Rafiqullah Rafi said. An investigation had been launched into the tragedy, but no arrest could be made so far, he said.
A doctor on duty at Qalat Civil Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed receiving two dead bodies and an injured person at the hospital.
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