Afghanistan: Security forces kill 25 militants within 24-hour period

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Afghan security forces killed up to 25 militants within 24 hours in counter-terrorism efforts across the country, according to an official statement.

Three other militants were wounded during the joint military-police operation, which was conducted in the Kunar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Oruzgan, Ghazni, Paktika, Paktiya, Herat and Helmand provinces, according to the Afghan interior ministry.

The announcement comes one day after a similar statement said security forces in Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Oruzgan, Ghazni, Khost and Helmand provinces killed the same number of militants over the same length of time.

On Sept. 19, the Afghan interior ministry said country-wide raids resulted in the deaths of 67 armed insurgents, while 135 were wounded and 14 others were arrested.

The interior ministry has made similar reports throughout the month, on Sept. 8 saying security forces killed nearly 50 armed insurgents, including two Taliban commanders, in two days' time.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, an official in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, told Xinhua news agency a Taliban rocket killed two children and injured seven others, including four children, in the village of Alam Qala on Monday.

The Taliban, who have intensified attacks against security forces since the beginning of the spring and summer fighting season, have yet to comment on the interior ministry's announcements.

After NATO forces officially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan last year, attacks against local soldiers and police spiked, with U.S. and Afghan officials estimating in June about 330 security personnel were being killed or wounded each week.

Back-and-forth battles, including in the recently recaptured Musa Qala district of Helmand province, have been ongoing.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Sunday for a suicide attack that injured at least three people in the Kandahar province, including two police officers -- nearly a week after Taliban fighters broke free at least 351 inmates from a jail in Ghazni province.

Tuesday's statement coincides with reports of 15 Afghan security personnel dying in a roadside bombing and an insider attack in the north of the country -- as well as a statement by Mullah Akthar Mansoor, the Afghan Taliban's new leader, who rejected peace talks with the government unless it revoked security pacts with both the United States and NATO and forced the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country.