Interior Ministry: 18 militants killed in joint allied, Afghan operation in southern Helmand

Police, allies kill 18 militants in S Afghanistan

KABUL — Afghan police, troops and intelligence agents backed by NATO forces killed 18 militants in a joint operation in Afghanistan’s restive southern province of Helmand, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Six militants also were arrested during the operation in Helmand’s Sangin district, the ministry said. It was one of a string of operations Monday that officials said left at least 30 insurgents dead in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

NATO did not provide immediate comment.

In the Shah Wali Kot district neighboring Kandahar province, one Afghan man was killed and a woman wounded after insurgents attacked a house Monday evening, deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad said.

Sherzad said the man was targeted because of dealings with Afghan government officials, and that three insurgents were killed in fighting that occurred after the house was attacked.

Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are ramping up pressure on Kandahar — the birthplace of the former Taliban regime, whose insurgents have been trying to destabilize the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Also Monday, in the Yayakhil district of southeastern Paktika province, allied forces killed three militants, the Interior Ministry said. Mohklis Afghan, a spokesman for Paktika’s regional governor, said six Taliban fighters were killed and three others arrested in the Yusuf Khil district.

Meanwhile, in the Qarabagh district of eastern Ghazni province, coalition and Afghan forces killed three Taliban fighters and detained four others, said deputy provincial police chief Abdul Ghani.

Associated Press Writer Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.