KABUL, July 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 70 fighters, mostly Taliban militants, were killed in fightings in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday.
In the latest gun battle in Argo district of the northern Badakhshan province early Wednesday, two Taliban militants and two police personnel were confirmed dead and six others including four police sustained injuries, district governor Mohammed Zahir Musadiq said.
Meanwhile, the government forces' operations against Taliban outfit in Tala-o-Barfak district of the northern Baghlan province killed six armed insurgents and injuring nine others, Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.
According to Rahimi, the government forces have also killed three Taliban militants and injuring 13 others in the restive Sari Pul province, north of Afghanistan, since Tuesday.
A total of 44 militants were killed in Kandahar and the neighboring Uruzgan and Daikundi provinces over the past 24 hours, according to security officials.
Afghan forces also killed 20 Taliban fighters and injured 10 others in Imam Sahib district of the northern Kunduz province since Tuesday, army spokesman in the northern region Ghulam Hazrat Karimi said.
Both the government and the Taliban outfit would intensify activities to gain more ground and consolidate positions ahead of possible direct talks for peace in Afghanistan expected in coming months, according to Afghan observer Khan Mohammad Daneshjo.
