阿富汗部队携手北约联军清剿塔利班 击毙16人

据西方媒体消息，阿富汗内政部长阿特马尔5月29日称，阿富汗军队及警察部队联合北约驻阿联军在多个地区同时展开清剿行动，击毙16名塔利班武装分子，另逮捕23人。

阿特马尔接受记者采访时介绍，此次清剿行动在喀布尔、坎大哈、赫尔曼德省、法拉省等10个地区分别展开，除击毙并逮捕武装分子外，还缴获一批武器。但他并未透露联军方面的伤亡情况。

塔利班尚未对此消息发表评论。此前，阿富汗塔利班组织声称将从5月3日起发动春季攻势，报复阿富汗部队及北约联军。

（来源：中国日报网 陈璐 编辑：王菁）

16 Taliban insurgents killed, 23 detained in Afghanistan within 24 hours

KABUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghan army and police, backed by NATO-led coalition troops, have eliminated 16 Taliban insurgents and detained 23 others during military operations within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday morning.

"The joint forces launched 10 cleanup operations in Kabul, Helmand, Kandahar, Sari Pul, Baghlan, Logar, Wardak, Paktia and Farah provinces, killing 16 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 23 others," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates to media.

They also found and seized weapons besides defusing 16 rounds of different mines, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

However, the Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of a spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and NATO forces, has not to make comments yet.

Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants throughout the country since the beginning of the spring but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

Four policemen were killed and another was injured when their patrolling van hit a roadside bomb in northern Baghlan province on Monday evening.