Afghan police kill 46 Taliban militants

Afghan police backed by army, intelligence agency and NATO-led coalition force have killed 46 Taliban fighters across the country over past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. \"In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of the Army, the National Directorate for Security (NDS) and the Coalition Force in Kunduz, Badakhshan, Kandahar, Zabul, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Khost and Paktiya provinces, as a result 46 armed Taliban rebels were killed, one wounded and 26 others were arrested,\" the statement said. However, the statement did not say if there were any casualties on security forces. Taliban militants have yet to make comment. Meanwhile, spokesman for Badakhshan provincial administration, Abdul Marouf Rasikh claimed killing 11 Taliban fighters by Afghan forces on Friday. \"Afghan forces raided Taliban hideouts in Wardoj district on Friday leaving 11 Taliban rebels dead and 17 others injured during the firefight which lasted two hours,\" Rasikh told Xinhua on Saturday. However, Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for the Taliban told media via telephone from unknown location that over two dozen security personnel were killed in the clash, a claim rejected by Rasikh as baseless. It is difficult to get verification from independent sources.