15 insurgents killed in Afghan operations

KABUL - Up to 15 Taliban insurgents have been killed and six others detained in operations carried out by Afghan police, army and NATO-led coalition forces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Sunday morning.

"A total of seven armed Taliban insurgents were also wounded during the 10 raids launched by the joint forces in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunduz, Uruzgan, Wardak, Ghazni, Herat and Helmand provinces throughout the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

However, the Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of an annual spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and NATO forces, has not to make comments yet.

Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

Two policemen were injured in a roadside bomb attack against the convoy of Higher Education Minister Obidullah Obid in northern Baghlan province earlier Sunday morning.

"The blast took place at around 08:50 a.m. local time in the Dar-e-Khoshk area of Baghlan-e-Markazi district but Minister Obid was unharmed and kept on his trip to neighboring Kunduz province shortly after the blast," police chief of the district, Colonel Mohammad Kamin, told Xinhua.