Eight Taliban killed in operations in Afghanistan, says government

Kabul, May 6 (Xinhua-ANI): Eight Taliban rebels have been killed during joint Afghan forces and NATO-led coalition troops operations in eight Afghan provinces, the country's Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

"Afghan police, army and Coalition Forces launched eight joint cleanup operations in Kunar, Faryab, Kandahar, Nimroz, Zabul, Ghazni, Paktia and Farah provinces, killing eight armed Taliban insurgents within the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

Two more insurgents have been injured and 15 others detained by joint forces, the statement added, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

In a separate incident, a least one driver was killed and three other people injured when Taliban attacked a line of trucks carrying goods for NATO-led force in northern Baghlan province at early Sunday morning, a provincial security official who declined to be named said.

Three vehicles were also damaged after Taliban fired rocket propelled grenade on the convoy along a highway in Dushi District in the province 160 km north of Kabul, he said.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the incident.

The Taliban insurgent group, whose regime was toppled in a U.S.- led incursion in late 2001, announced on Wednesday that they would launched a spring rebel offensive dubbed "Al-Farooq" from May 3 across the country, saying their targets are foreign and Afghan troops as well as legislators and government functionaries. (Xinhua-ANI)