Insurgents killed in eastern Afghan province

Several insurgents were killed in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition troops in the Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni on Monday, the coalition forces confirmed. "An Afghan and coalition security force killed several insurgents during a security operation to arrest a Taliban leader in Ghazni province today," the coalition said in a statement, without disclosing the exact number of the killed. "As the security force approached the Taliban leader's suspected location, multiple armed insurgents attacked the security force with small-arms fire. The security force returned fire, killing the insurgents," it said. The joint forces also detained one suspected insurgent and seized a machine gun with large quantities of ammunition, several assault-style rifles, a pistol, and assorted ammunition as a result of the operation in the province 100 km south of Afghan capital Kabul, the statement added. In addition, the joint force during a separate operation detained a local Taliban leader in Kandahar province, some 450 km south of Kabul. "The arrested leader is believed to be responsible for high profile attack planning, facilitating weapons use, and leading a group of Taliban fighters within Kandahar province," it said. The Afghan and coalition forces use the term insurgent referring to the Taliban, however, the Taliban insurgent group, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have yet to make comments. The Afghan forces and some 100,000 coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants throughout the country recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings. Up to 41 people, including 23 Afghan policemen, were killed and more than 50 others were wounded in a suicide bombing in a mosque, where people were holding Eid-ul-Adha or biggest Muslim festival, in northern Faryab province on Friday morning.