About 28 Taliban militants were killed and 54 others detained in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Monday morning.

"Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and NDS or intelligence agency supported by the NATO-led coalition forces, launched nine joint clearance operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni, Ghor, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, killing 28 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 54 others during the past 24 hours," 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.

In addition, the ANP also discovered and defused one anti- vehicle mine and 100 kilograms of explosives as a result of separate security operations in eastern provinces of Parwan and Khost on Sunday, according to the statement.

The Taliban insurgent group has yet to make any comments.



The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual spring offensive dubbed "Al-Farooq" from May 3 against Afghan and some 100,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country.