Nearly 20 Taliban Members Killed In Afghanistan's Kandahar, Helmand - Defense Ministry

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2021) The Afghan National Army (ANA) has killed 10 members of the Taliban movement in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar and another eight Taliban militants in the southern province of Helmand during anti-terrorist operations conducted last night, the spokesman of the Afghan Defense Ministry, Fawad Aman, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The operations were carried out in three districts of Kandahar, in which 10 Taliban were killed, and in Nahr-e-Siraj district of Helmand eight Taliban were killed," Aman said.

The spokesman noted that no Afghan serviceman was killed or wounded during the operations.

The Taliban have not released details of the latest clashes, and rejected the claims of the defense ministry.

The Kabul-Taliban peace talks kicked off in Doha in September but have so far failed to put an end to the confrontation on the ground. On the contrary, Afghanistan has witnessed a spate of bomb attacks and clashes, with the military continuing to regularly report on its special operations against Taliban operatives, who are now said to control three-fourths of Afghan land.