21 Taliban killed in Wardak incidents

KABUL were killed and 10 others wounded during separate incidents over the past 24 hours in central Maidan Wardak province, an official said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a joint Afghan-ISAF security force conducted a ground and air offensive in Syedabad district, killing seven insurgents and injuring six others.

Several other rebels were detained during the joint operation that was conducted in Patankhel, Yousafkhel and Doab Tangi areas, the governor’s spokesman said.

Attaullah Khogyani added five fighters were killed in the Kajab area of the Behsud district in a blast caused by a mortar shell they aimed at an Afghan National Army (ANA)’s post in the area.

Another seven Taliban militants were killed during a joint operation in the Khwaja Karez and Shah Kabul areas of the Nirkh district, the gubernatorial spokesman said.

In the Jaghatu district, a clash between the Taliban and the Hezb-i-Islami fighters left one Taliban man dead.

In the same district, five Taliban fighters were injured during a clash with ANA troops in the Sadatkhel area.

The governor’s spokesman said the Afghan army had arrested a school principal and four teachers with four remote-controlled bombs in Maidan Shahr, the provincial capital.

He said the detainees had been handed over to intelligence officials for interrogation.

A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that six Afghan troops were killed and wounded during in an attack in the Syedabad district. He did not comment on the other incidents.

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