7 militants killed in Afghan police raids within day

Seven militants were killed in Afghan police cleanup operations since early Tuesday, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army, Afghan intelligence agency and Coalition Forces in Kandahar, Wardak and Paktika provinces. As a result, seven armed Taliban were killed and 21 others were arrested," the ministry said in statement providing daily operational updates, Xinhua reported. The ANP also seized weapons and ammunition during the above raids, it said. "During the same 24 hour period, ANP discovered and defused 10 different types of mines placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Laghman, Uruzgan and Paktika provinces," it noted. The Taliban insurgent group has yet to make comments. Afghan army and police took the full operational lead from foreign troops in June this year. The war-torn country is due to take over the responsibility for its own security from NATO-led ISAF coalition troops by the end of 2014. On Tuesday, one British soldier of the coalition was killed in a suicide car bombing in Southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the coalition confirmed late on Tuesday.