17 Taliban militants killed in Afghanistan within 24 hours

A total of 17 Taliban insurgents have been killed and 18 others detained in five cleanup operations carried out by the Afghan police, army and the NATO-led coalition forces in deferent provinces within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday. "The joint force also found and defused five different mines besides seizing four RPG-7 or rocket propelled grenades, five PK machine guns, eight pistols, 25 rounds of shells and a hand grenade in the above operations," the ministry said in a statement providing morning operational updates. Separately, Afghan police found and defused an anti-vehicle mine in western Farah province on Saturday, it said. In another development, up to 12 Taliban insurgents were killed during a cleanup operation in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province late Saturday; provincial police chief Zarawar Zahid told Chinese news agency (Xinhua) Sunday. He added that two local Taliban commanders named Mullah Aghajan and Mullah Abdul Haleem were among the killed. The Taliban insurgents, who launched in May this year spring offensive against Afghan and NATO forces, have yet to make comment. Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against insurgents recently. More than 432 insurgents have been killed and over 280 others detained since July 1 by the joint forces.