The US-led Coalition has killed 22 militants including two Taliban commanders, and detained 11 during multiple operations targeting the Taliban and Haqqani networks in eastern and southern Afghanistan, said a Coalition statement issued in Kabul on Tuesday.

Coalition forces killed Taliban commander Mullah Patang and 18 other militants during an anti-Taliban operation in Kapisa province of eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the statement said.

Coalition forces engaged militants in their hideout and used close-air precision munitions to prevent the armed militants' movement against the force, it added.

"The operation yielded more than 20 AK-47s, multiple hand grenades ...", it noted. "Eight suspected militants were also detained as a result of the operation."

In another operation, Afghan National Army (ANA) and Coalition forces netted the targeted Haqqani militant during a successful combined operation in eastern Afghan province of Khost.

While in Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan, Coalition forces killed a second Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Rahim Akund, and one additional armed militant while targeting the Taliban's roadside bombing network, the statement further said.

"A search of the compound revealed a 105mm artillery round that had the explosives removed presumably to construct roadside bombs," it said.

Moreover, Coalition forces continued to apply pressure to the Taliban's roadside bombing network, killing one armed militant and detaining two suspected militants in Jaldak district of Zabul province in southern Afghanistan.

Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left more than 5, 000 people dead with some 2,000 civilians and 294 foreign troops in 2008, despite some 70,000-strong international troops stationed in militancy-plagued Afghanistan.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)