KABUL, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 50 fighters including two security personnel have been killed in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours amid peace efforts to find a negotiated end to the country's prolonged conflicts, officials said Monday.
At least four Taliban fighters and two police were killed as clash erupted in Almar district of the northern Faryab province early Monday, provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yurash said.
According to Yurash, three more militants and two security personnel sustained injuries in the fighting.
Meanwhile, government forces targeted Taliban positions in Qarabagh and Rashidan districts of the eastern Ghazni province since Sunday night, killing six armed militants and injuring five others, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri told Xinhua.
An army spokesman in the southern Uruzgan province, Khawja Yahya Alawi asserted that the government forces have pounded the Taliban hideouts from ground and air, around provincial capital Tirin Kot and Khas Uruzgan district since Sunday evening, killing 40 insurgents and injuring seven others.
The security forces, according to a statement of army released Monday, claimed killing two Taliban fighters and injuring nine others in the northern Sari Pul province since Sunday night.
Meantime, the fifth round of talks between the U.S. delegation headed by Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban representatives has reportedly kicked off in Qatar's capital Doha Monday, discussing the ways and means on how to bring to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
Afghan government is also preparing to convene the traditional Loya Jirga or grand assembly on March 17, with the participation of some 2,000 delegates from across the country to discuss national reconciliation process.
