Scores killed as Afghan warring sides intensify operations

Kabul, June 29 Both the Afghan government troops and the Taliban group have stepped up military operations as over 70 people including 10 civil have been killed across the country over the past 24 hours, officials said.

In the latest violent incident, a roadside mine planted by the Taliban struck a car in Washir district of the southern Helmand province at 3 p.m. local time Sunday, killing six civil, including women and children and injuring two others, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Zaman Hamdard said on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

A similar incident claimed the lives of three civil including two children as a mine planted by the Taliban insurgents on a road in Manjek district of the northern Jawzjan province went off on Sunday morning, provincial government spokesman Abdul Marouf Azar said.

Government forces operations have killed 23 militants and injured nine others in the eastern Ghazni and neighbouring Paktia provinces on Sunday, according to officials.

A mortar mine fired by the Taliban militants struck a house in Qargan area of the northern Faryab province Saturday evening, killing one civilian and wounding four others, police said.

According to the police, eight militants were killed and 13 others sustained injury in Qaramqul district of Faryab province over the past 24 hours.

A dozen militants have been killed elsewhere in the northern Jawzjan province since Saturday, provincial government spokesman Marouf Azar claimed.

The security forces have killed seven militants and wounded seven others in the eastern Kapisa province over the past 24 hours.

A total of 14 militants have been killed and 15 others injured in Saghar district of the western Ghor province on Saturday, according to a statement of the Interior Ministry.

Fighting usually gets momentum in spring and summer in Afghanistan commonly know as the fighting season among war-weary Afghans.

( With inputs from IANS )