KABUL - Eighty-two rebels were killed and dozens detained in a series of security operations in different provinces over the past 24 hours, officials said on Saturday.
Featuring Afghan Nation Police (ANP), Afghan National Army (ANA) and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) members, the operations were conducted in Kabul, Kunduz, Faryab, Kandahar, and Helmand, Kunar, Paktika and Maidan Wardak provinces.
A statement from the Ministry of Interior said 18 militants were killed, 22 detained and two others wounded during the operations. Some weapons and ammunition were also seized.
Separately, eight fighters were killed and seven others detained during two operations in central Maidan Wardak province, the governor's spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said.
Six guerrillas, trying to fire missiles at the Jaghatu district centre, were killed by ISAF on Friday, he added.
Confirming the deaths of two fighters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed five US soldiers suffered casualties in the missile strike.
Meanwhile, two insurgents were killed and three others detained during an offensive by Afghan and ISAF troops in the Haft Asyab area of Syedabad district, he said, adding a pistol, a walkie-talkie, 32 remote-controlled bombs, some explosives and a car were also recovered.
Elsewhere in the province, another four militants were netted with weapons and ammunitions during an operation in the Sinzai area of Nirkh district, he added.
Separately, in southern Kandahar and Zabul provinces, four fighters, including two bomb planters, were killed.
Two bomb makers were killed and three others injured at around 8am on Saturday, when a home-made bomb exploded inside a house in the Bakhtyar village of the 5th police district in Kandahar City, the governor's spokesman Zalmay Ayubi said.
Separately, six insurgents suffered casualties and four others were detained in a three-day operation by ANA in Maiwand district.
In Zabul, two insurgents were killed on Friday during a clash that erupted after the militants attacked a border police patrol in Atghar district, Ayubi added. Security personnel suffered no casualties.
In the east, 17 rebels were killed in airstrikes after they attacked the joint Afghan-foreign force in the Narai district of Kunar province on Friday night, the ISAF press office said.
Afghan and international troops did not suffer causalities in the battle. However, local officials said they were unaware of the clash.
Elsewhere in the province, three Taliban were killed in a skirmish with a joint force in Khas Kunar district on Friday night, Brig. Gen. Ewaz Mohammad, the provincial police chief, said.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said he was unaware of the operation, but he confirmed the death of three fighters and 10 civilians in Asmar district.
In southern Helmand province, more than 22 fighters were killed, one captured and two others wounded in separate operations by a combined Afghan-coalition force in Baghran and Marja district on Friday, the multinational force said in a statement.
In southeastern Paktika province, three insurgents were killed and two others detained during an operation against a Haqqani network leader in Gomal district on Friday, it added.