55 militants killed in Afghan raid within 24 hours: official

Fifty-five Taliban militants were killed and 37 wounded in separate joint military operations since early Tuesday, said the Afghan Interior Ministry Wednesday morning.

"Afghan National Police, army, National Directorate for Security (NDS) and the coalition forces conducted several joint clean up operations in surrounding areas of Balkh, Badakhshan, Kunar, Nangarhar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Logar, Paktiya, Helmand, Kapisa and Herat provinces, killing 55 armed Taliban and injuring 37 others over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement presenting daily operational updates.

They also found and seized weapons and ammunition, statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

The operations also led to 18 arrests, it said.

In addition, the Afghan police also discovered and defused 14 different types of landmines and roadside bombs planted by militants in Baghlan, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces over the same period of time, it noted.

The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has not made comments yet.