21 Taliban militants killed, 19 arrested in Afghanistan

A total of 21 Taliban militants were killed and 19 others arrested during military operations in different provinces in Afghanistan within the past 24 hours, the Afghan interior ministry said on Monday morning.Afghan police, army and NATO-led coalition forces launched 15 cleanup operations in Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Wardak and Logar provinces, killing 21 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 19 other suspects, the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces. Two more insurgents were wounded in the above operations, it said. However, the Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of a spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and NATO forces, has not make comments yet.Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militant groups throughout the country recently as spring and summer, known as fighting season, draw near. More than 800 insurgents have been killed and more than 1,450 others detained in the country so far this year, according to figures released by the ministry.