KABUL, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Afghan National Army personnel found and defused 24 landmines across the country as the security forces continue to press militants, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
"The engineering teams of ANA uncovered and defused 24 rounds of landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in different places within the last 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.
The Taliban militant group uses the simple but difficult to be detected IEDs to target security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.
Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as 715 civilians were killed and over 1,460 others injured in conflict-related incidents in the first three months of the year, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country.
Out of the casualties, 86 civilians were killed and 132 others wounded in IED attacks across the country over the period.
