"Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army, NDS or Afghan intelligence agency and Coalition Forces launched seven joint cleanup operations in Kabul, Parwan, Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul provinces killing five armed Taliban insurgents and capturing 14 other suspects over the past 24 hours," the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
Another six insurgents were killed during an armed clash in Kamdesh district of eastern Kunar province over the same period of time, the NATO-led coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a press release on Monday.
In another development, the joint forces captured a Taliban weapons facilitator in southern Kandahar province earlier Monday.
"An Afghan and coalition security force detained a Taliban facilitator during an operation in Zharay district, Kandahar province, today," the ISAF said in the release, adding "The facilitator supplied insurgents in the district with weapons, ammunition and equipment for attacks against Afghan and coalition troops."
The Taliban insurgent group, who announced on May 2 that they would launch a spring rebel offensive starting from May 3 to target Afghan forces as well as U.S. and NATO troops across the country, have yet to make comments.
Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militant groups throughout the country since the beginning of spring.Over 780 insurgents have been killed and more than 1,430 others detained in the country so far this year, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.
However, Taliban responded by carrying out suicide bombings and roadside bomb attacks.
Two NATO soldiers were killed and six children were injured when Taliban launched a suicide bombing in southern Uruzgan province on Saturday while a civilian was killed and three others injured when their vehicle touched off a roadside bomb in eastern Ghazni province also on Saturday.
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