Afghan police kill 18 militants within day

KABUL - Afghan National Police (ANP), supported by Afghan army and NATO-led coalition forces, have eliminated 18 Taliban militants in different provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

"Two more armed Taliban insurgents were wounded and 15 militants were detained in 12 joint cleanup operations launched in Kabul, Baghlan, Balkh, Zabul, Logar, Khost, Farah and Helmand provinces," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

The ANP also found and seized weapons besides defusing 56 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the statement said, without disclosing if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

In addition, a key Taliban commander named Jahadmal was killed in an airstrike carried out by the NATO-led coalition forces in the country's southern province of Helmand on Tuesday, a provincial government spokesman said Wednesday.

"The air raid attack was launched after security forces positively identified Jahadmal in Pan Kali area of Sangin district and no civilians were hurt in the attack," in the province 555 km south of Afghan capital Kabul, spokesman Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.

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.

Eight South Africans, a Kazakhstani national, all working for a private aviation company, and three passers-by were killed when a suicide car bombing targeted a mini-bus in Kabul on Tuesday morning.