KABUL
Security forces killed 121 suspected militants, including 23 alleged foreign fighters and arrested nine others in operations across 11 provinces in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
According to the statement, at least one suspect was also injured. A large cache of weapons and ammunition were also seized.
"Taliban suffered the heaviest causalities in Zabul province’s Khak-e-Afghan district," the statement added.
Afghan security forces also conducted a rescue operation Tuesday morning in Zabul province to free 31 kidnapped Shia passengers after mediation by local tribal elders failed.
A group of masked men, suspected to be linked with Daesh, had kidnapped the passengers on the highway between the capital Kabul and southern Kandahar province on Feb. 23.
Provincial police chief for Zabul province, Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai, alleged that foreign fighters were behind the kidnapping.
"We have killed scores of Daesh militants during the rescue operation," Lewanai said.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group.
