By NNN-Xinhua
Kabul : The U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed several insurgents and detained nine armed individuals in southern Afghan provinces of Uruzgan and Zabul during two separate operations, the military said Thursday.
The forces using aerial-delivered munitions attacked a group of insurgents on motorcycles in Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province Wednesday, killing “a number of insurgents,” said a Coalition statement released here.
It added that the militants were associated with a Taliban leader responsible for conducting anti-government activities in the area.
In a follow-on search of compounds in the district targeting the local-based Taliban leader and his followers, the Coalition said they killed “a number of armed insurgents” and detained three armed individuals.
“Several AK-47s, ammunition vests and grenades were recovered,” the statement noted.
In neighboring Zabul province, Afghan and Coalition forces during a compounds search in Qalat district on Wednesday found and detained six individuals including one targeted Taliban leader with links to foreign-fighter facilitators.
The statement did not give the exact number of the killed insurgents during the operations.
Around 60,000-strong foreign force, separately under the flag of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S.-led Coalition forces, are deployed in war-torn Afghanistan, fighting militants and ensuring security.
Rising militancy-related violence killed over 6,000 people in the post-Taliban nation last year. Mullah Mohammad Omar, head of the Taliban, which waged insurgency since their fall from power in late 2001, Monday vowed to accelerate militant activities against the Afghan government forces and Afghanistan-based international troops.