21 militants die in operations in Afghanistan

KABUL - The Afghan Interior Ministry on Tuesday said that 21 militants were killed and five wounded in operations since early Monday in different provinces.

"In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several cleanup operations with the cooperation of army, National Directorate for Security and Coalition Forces in Kunar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Wardak and Helmand provinces, killing 21 armed Taliban and wounding five other militants," the ministry said in a statement.

The raids also led to 10 arrests, it added.

"The ANP also discovered and defused 15 different types of mines placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Laghman, Takhar, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Herat, Helmand and Nimroz provinces at the same period of time," the statement noted.

The Taliban insurgent, which has intensified attacks since they launched annual rebel offensive in April, has not made comments so far.