Five Taliban militants were killed and 21 others detained during operations within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Sunday morning. "Afghan police, Army and NATO-led Coalition Forces launched 10 joint cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Kunar, Kapisa, Kandahar, Helmand, Khost, Ghazni, Logar, Zabul and Farah provinces over the last 24 hours, killing five armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 21 other suspects," the ministry said in a statement.

They also found and seized weapons besides defusing 14 anti- vehicle mines, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

Taliban militants have yet to make comments.

Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militant groups across the country recently. Over 530 insurgents have been killed and more than 1,170 others detained in the country so far this year, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

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