KABUL: The Afghan National Army (ANA) has during the past six months discovered and defused 4,776 improvised bombs and landmines planted by militants, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
“The enemies have generally hidden IEDs and roadside bombs along main roads, highways and heavily populated areas to target security forces and innocent civilians,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The ANA soldiers, especially the ANA engineering team members found, defused and destroyed 4,776 IEDs, roadside bombs and landmines, putting their lives in danger to save people’s lives and properties.”
Taliban militants and other insurgent groups in the country have been using home-made Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to make roadside bombs and landmines targeting security forces, but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.
A teenage girl was killed and 25 civilians were wounded in two IED explosions in two provinces over the weekend.
Meanwhile, At least seven security force members and four militants were killed and 14 people wounded in fresh clashes in two Afghan provinces on Tuesday night, a local officials confirmed on Wednesday. In northern Kunduz province, five security forces and four militants were killed and eight soldiers and four militants wounded after security forces responded to Taliban militants who stormed security checkpoints in two localities in Imam Sahib district, bordering Tajikistan, district chief Mahbubullah Sayyedi told media.
The clashes ended early Wednesday morning in the district where local villagers claimed militants overrun one national army’s checkpoint following the fighting. Taliban militants also attacked eastern outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city, in an effort to consolidate their position along key roads in the area. Furthermore, two Afghan Local Police officers were killed and others wounded in a similar incident in Pashtum Zarghun district, in the southeastern of Herat city, capital of western Herat province, provincial police spokesman, Jilani Farhad, told media.–Agencies
