Eleven insurgents killed, 51 detained in Afghan raids

Kabul - The Afghan police and army, backed by NATO-led coalition troops, have eliminated 11 Taliban insurgents and detained 51 other suspects during 10 cleanup operations within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

"The joint operations were conducted in Kabul, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Balkh, Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, Khost, Paktia and Ghazni provinces during which seven other Taliban insurgents were injured, " the ministry said in a statement.

They also found and seized weapons, the statement added, 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 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against insurgents recently.

Around 650 insurgents have been killed, 130 wounded and over 600 others detained by the joint forces since May 1, according to figures released by Interior Ministry.

A total of 18 people including 17 civilians were killed when Taliban launched an attack against a popular hotel in Qargha Lake, a picnic spot in western Kabul late on Thursday. The attack led to an 11-hour gunfight and blasts that also left all five attackers dead.

The Afghan army and police have rescued 40 civilians from the building and five other people were injured in the attack.

In another development, Taliban broke into a house in Almar district of northern Faryab province, killing five civilians, all members of the same family, the ministry said in a separate statement.

Without disclosing more details, the statement said the police has launched an investigation to probe the incident.