KABUL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Up to 47 anti-government militants have been killed in the eastern and northern regions of Afghanistan over the past 24 hours as the government forces have stepped up operations against armed militants in the war-battered country, officials said Saturday.
The security forces have killed 25 insurgents and captured a bastion of Taliban militants in Khawja Sabzposh district of the northern Faryab province since Friday, police spokesman in the northern region Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said Saturday.
According to the official, four Taliban group commanders including the notorious Mawlawi Yusuf and Mullah Yar Mohammad are among those killed in the raids.
A total of 23 more insurgents sustained injuries in the operations which lasted for several hours, the official said, adding the militants fled away.
And in an identical operation against Taliban insurgents, the government forces have killed nine militants in Andar and Deyak districts of the eastern Ghazni province since Friday morning,according to provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri.
During the ongoing operations backed by aircraft, Nuri added that nine more militants and nine security personnel had sustained injuries.
Similarly, the security forces in operations against Islamic State (IS) group in the eastern Nangarhar province, have killed 13 armed fighters and injured several others in Achin and Haska Minda districts on Friday, spokesman for provincial government Attaullah Khogiani said Saturday.
Taliban and IS groups are the two brutal fighting forces that have challanged the government in Afghanistan.
Security officials including Defense Ministry spokesman General Dawlat Waziri have said that the government forces would continue to mount pressure on anti-government militants in winter to weaken the insurgents ahead of spring and summer commonly known as fighting season in Afghanistan.
