4 militants killed in eastern Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) --
 Four militants were killed in an air raid operation in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province overnight, an official said on Monday. "Four armed militants were planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on Sunday night along a road in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, some 120 km east of capital Kabul, to target security forces in the area," district administration chief Mohammad Hassan told Xinhua.

He said based on intelligence reports, security forces carried out a precision air strike that left all militants dead on the spot.

Taliban insurgents have not made any comment yet.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced it would launch a rebel offensive starting from May 1 against Afghan and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan.

In the second phase of security transition process begun earlier this month, Afghan forces will take over security responsibility of provincial capital Jalalabad city and three other districts from NATO-led coalition forces in near future.

The process of taking over security duties from the over 130, 000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) begun in July this year would be completed by the end of 2014.

Posted in: Afghanistan