Afghan police backed by international troops killed 31 militants including one commander in Afghan restive province of Helmand on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

"In a joint operation of Afghan police and international troops in Kajaki district of Helmand province, one enemy commander along with his 30 fellows were killed and 20 others sustained injures," according to the ministry's press release.

The operation came one day after Afghan and foreign troops killed 30 Taliban fighters, including a well- known insurgent member Mullah Mohammad Yaqub, in Uruzgan province. "Mullah Mohammad Yaqub along with 29 other militants was killed and over 17 others sustained injures in an operation which was launched in Deh Rawod district on Monday," the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

Conflicts and Taliban-link insurgency, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people including 2,000 Afghan civilians in 2008, is expected to go up this year.

The US is sending 21,000 additional forces to the war-torn country in an attempt to contain this country's increasing insurgency.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2009)