Afghan and coalition forces killed 13 Taliban fighters and arrested 15 others in separate raids and clashes in Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday, according to dpa. Afghan police, intelligence and US-led coalition forces killed ten Taliban militants on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on Thursday morning, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Two other militants were wounded and two were arrested in the operation which took place in Pasht Ganda area of southern Ghazni province. In a separate clash with Afghan army forces in the same province Thursday, three militants were killed, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties among the combined forces in either encounter, the Afghan officials said. In a separate statement the Afghan Interior Ministry said their forces arrested a Taliban commander, Mullah Toor Jan, who was involved in terrorist activities in Uruzgan province. The arrested commander has been sought by the police for the past two years, before he was arrested in the province on Wednesday, the statement said. US-led coalition forces meanwhile arrested "two targeted militants and 10 suspected militants" in an operation in south-eastern and western Afghanistan, US military said in a statement. The combined forces detained two known militants involved in roadside attacks, along with five of their associates in Khost province Wednesday, the statement said. The suspects were arrested in Tani district of the province, it said, adding several weapons, ammunition, an ammunition vest were confiscated and destroyed on-site of the operation. Also on Wednesday, five other suspects were detained in Khashroad district of western Nimruz province, it added. In a separate incident on Tuesday, coalition forces detained a Taliban commander and some of his associates in Qalat city of Zabul province, a separate US military statement said. Afghan and coalition forces have arrested thousands of suspected Taliban militants since the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001, but most of them have not been tried so far.
