Four Afghan security forces and 30 Taliban fighters including a female militant were killed in the latest series of clashes and attacks in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. Two Afghan soldiers were killed and two were wounded when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb blast in the Yakhchal area of Gerishk district in southern Helmand province on Friday, the Afghan defence ministry said in a statement. Two police were also killed and two were wounded when Taliban militants attacked their convoy in Mogur district of western province of Badghis on Friday night, General Mohammad Ayoub Niazyar, provincial police chief said. He said police forces fought back, killing five Taliban attackers and wounding four. Taliban militants have began operating in Badghis province, which was until recently relatively peaceful region compared to southern and eastern regions. Militants are believed to have penetrated the province from the neighbouring province of Helmand, where Taliban are the most active. In another three separate clashes in eastern Kunar and Khost provinces, US-led coalition forces killed 19 insurgents including an armed female militant and arrested three others on Friday, US military said in a statement. Seven militants were killed in Dara Noor district of Kunar province when coalition forces clashed with a group of militants, the statement said, adding that the operation targeted an al-Qaeda leader, who was "believed to be in contact with other militants in the region, coordinating attacks against coalition forces and innocent civilians." The militants fired on combined forces as they were attempting to manoeuvre on the insurgents, the statement said, adding: "Coalition forces returned fire, killing five armed militants, one of whom was an armed female." The joint forces killed 12 other militants and arrested three in two separate clashes in Nadar Shah Kot district of the neighbouring province of Khost on Friday, the statement said. The militants killed in the operation were involved in facilitating roadside and suicide attacks in the region, the statement added. It did not say whether there were any casualties among the coalition forces in any of those operations. Six militants were killed and nine were wounded in a fight with Afghan army forces in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Thursday, a separate Afghan defence ministry statement said. It said the insurgents had forced the local villagers to take their wounded comrades to hospital, but the locals did not comply.
