50 insurgents killed, 364 detained in month: Afghan official
Afghan army during joint and independent operations have eliminated at least 50 suspected insurgents and detained some 364 others over the past one month, a spokesman of country's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Afghan National Army (ANA), during independent and joint operations with coalition forces, have killed 50 enemies and detained 364 other insurgents over the last month," General Zahir Azimi told reporters in a weekly press conference here.
Azimi also said that the ANA forces injured over a dozen more insurgents besides uncovering and defusing 380 mine and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in the same period of time, counted from Nov. 22 to Dec. 20.
"Forces with ANA in collaboration with Afghan police and coalition troops also found and seized 117 kilograms of explosive materials in different parts of the country," Azimi said, adding currently 27 military operations were going on around the country.
However, he asserted that as many as 54 soldiers and officers with the ANA were also killed in insurgent attacks, military operations and IED blasts over the same period of time.
"The strength of ANA currently has reached to over 180,000 and it is projected to reach to 195,000 by October 2012," Azimi said.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced to launch a rebel offensive from May 1 against Afghan and around 130,000 NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan.
The Taliban insurgent group has yet to make comments.
Special Report: Afghanistan Situation
Editor: Xiong Tong
English.news.cn 2011-12-21 16:19:42
KABUL, Dec. 21 (Xinhua)
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