Local Taliban commander killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan: ISAF

Kabul, June 14 (Xinhua-ANI): A local Taliban commander was killed Thursday in an operation carried out by Afghan forces and NATO-led coalition troops in the country's southern province of Kandahar, the coalition said in a statement.

"An Afghan-led security force, supported by coalition troops, killed the Taliban commander Fayez Jan and one additional insurgent during an operation in Daman district, Kandahar province, today," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) said in the statement.

Two Afghan males were injured in the battle and transported to coalition medical facilities for treatment, the statement added.

"Fayez Jan constructed, distributed and directed the placement of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) throughout Daman and Shah Wali Kot districts. At the time of his death, Fayez Jan was planning to launch an IED attack against Afghan and coalition convoys in the area," the statement said.

Afghan Taliban has launched massive IED attacks against security forces in recent years.

Two ISAF soldiers were killed in two separate IED blasts in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday and another NATO soldier died of wounds following an IED attack in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Separately, Afghan police and army, backed by ISAF troops, have eliminated six armed Taliban insurgents during operations within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday morning.

Four other insurgents were wounded and three suspects were detained by joint forces during the four cleanup operations in four provinces, it added.

They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

However, the Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of a spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and NATO forces, has not to make comments yet.

Afghan forces and some 130,000-strong ISAF troops have intensified cleanup operations against insurgents recently. Records kept by Xinhua, based on figures released by Interior Ministry, reveal that around 540 insurgents have been killed, 116 wounded and over 500 others detained since May 1 by joint forces. (Xinhua-ANI)