As many as 27 militants were killed in an overnight operation launched by Afghan army in the western province of Farah, said an army source Monday morning.

"The army troopers started an operation in Pusht Rod District against suspected militants late Sunday night. The raid continued till wee hours of Monday. Up to 27 Taliban militants, including seven local insurgent leaders, were killed following the exchange of fire," the source told Xinhua anonymously.

The raid also led to seven arrests, he said, adding that a key Taliban commander named Abdul Rahman Nika were among the dead.

Several militant hideouts were destroyed in the operation in northern part of provincial capital Farah city, 695 km west of national capital Kabul, he noted.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched annual rebel offensive in April against Afghan government forces and over 87,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country.

Taliban has yet to make comments.



Earlier on Monday, militants shot dead the wife of an Independent Election Commission (IEC) employee near the provincial capital Farah city, the provincial government spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhwandoy told Xinhua.

Recently, the IEC staffs repeatedly come under attack as the country is preparing for the presidential and provincial councils elections, slated for early April next year.

In northern Kunduz Province, militants launched an ambush attack, killing a prominent security official named Ghulam Hassan in Chardara District, southern of provincial capital Kunduz city, 250 km north of Kabul Monday morning.