Afghan police kill 23 militants, detain 33 within day

Afghan police, backed by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces, have killed 23 anti-government militants and detained 33 other suspects within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP) supporting by the army and coalition forces conducted eight cleanup operations in Sari Pul, Ghazni, Kunduz, Kandahar, Wardak, Helmand, Paktia, and Baghlan province, killing 24 armed Taliban militants and detaining 33 others over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. The ANP also found and seized six AK-47 guns, two PK-M heavy guns, two rocket launchers besides defusing 15 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), it said. The statement did not disclose if there were any casualties on the side of security forces. In addition, the ANP also found and defused seven IEDs that were recently placed by militants along main roads in eastern Laghman and southern Uruzgan province on Wednesday. The Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of an annual spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and about 100, 000 NATO forces, has not to make comments yet. The Afghan forces and the coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against militants across the country recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide bombings and IED attacks especially in southern and eastern parts of the country. Up to three US soldiers with the coalition, a high-ranking Afghan police official and 12 civilians were killed and 61 others injured in a Taliban suicide bombing in eastern Khost province earlier this month.