Global General

Afghan, NATO troops kill 5 Taliban militants

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-13 21:00

KABUL - Afghan and NATO-led forces during operations elsewhere in militancy-plagued Afghanistan eliminated five Taliban militants and detained five others over the past 24 hours, Afghan Defense Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

"Afghan-NATO's Special Forces based in Bagram airbase during raids across the country killed five terrorists and detained five others over the past 24 hours," the press release added.

The operations took place in southern Helmand, Zabul and northern Kunduz provinces, it said.

According to the press release, the combined forces killed three Taliban fighters in Nahr-e-Saraj and Nad Ali districts of Helmand province on Monday and detained three others.

It asserted that two other militants were killed in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan and Kunduz in north of the country while two ?militants were also detained in the raids.

Taliban militants, who made a bloody comeback four years ago in their traditional hotbed southern Afghanistan, have yet to make comments.

The outfit's militias have been attempting to infiltrate from volatile ?southern region to relatively peaceful northern provinces since early 2009.

Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency is predicted to go up this year in 2010 as both security forces and insurgents are trying to consolidate their positions and hold more territories in spring and summer, traditionally known as fighting seasons in Afghanistan.