Afghan police kill 11 insurgents, detain 16

Afghan police, backed by the army and NATO-led troops, have eliminated 11 anti-government militants and captured 16 others, the Interior Ministry of Afghanistan said in a press release issued here on Sunday. "Afghan National Police with the assistance of the Afghan army and Coalition forces have killed 11 armed insurgents and captured 16 others during four joint operations across the country over the past 24 hours," the press release said. These operations had been carried out in Kandahar, Helmand, Ghazni and Kabul provinces during which a large number of light and heavy weapons had also been sized, according to the release. Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops have yet to make comment. Separately, four civilians were killed on Saturday when a roadside bomb struck their car in Khanshin district of Helmand province with Lashkar Gah as its capital 555 km south of capital Kabul, spokesman for provincial government told Xinhua on Sunday. "The blast occurred on Saturday morning in Wazir Abad village of Khanshin as a result two women, two men were killed and three others injured," Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua. A total of 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in the first half of 2011, a 15 percent rise over the same period of 2010, according to the United Nations mid-year report released in Kabul on July 14.