By Xinhua
Kabul : Afghan National Police (ANP), backed by the U.S.-led Coalition forces, conducted an operation on Sunday, eliminating several insurgents in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan, said a Coalition statement.
ANP, along with Coalition forces, conducted a cordon-and-searchin Kendal and Shok villages of Nuristan in an effort to clear the area of insurgents when several groups of militants opened fire from several compounds and multiple fighting positions around and within the villages, the statement said.
The combined force repelled the attack with accurate small-arms fire and called in close air support, it said.
A large number of insurgents as well as fully-loaded weapons and stores of ammunition were captured during the further searching, it added.
There are no reports of civilian casualties at this time, it said.
Conflicts and Taliban-related violence have left more than 320 people dead so far this year in war-torn Afghanistan, where Taliban militants recently have vowed to launch the “Spring offensive” to intensify their guerrilla-style attacks on national army and foreign troops.