Roundup: 13 civilians abducted, 29 militants killed in Afghanistan

Unknown armed men intercepted passenger vehicles in Saripul province and abducted 13 people on Wednesday, Hayatullah Alamai, a member of the provincial council, said.

"The ill-fated passengers were going from provincial capital the Saripul city to Balkhab district Wednesday morning when a group of armed people, presumably Taliban militants, intercepted their vehicles in Damarda area and took 13 passengers to unknown locations," Alami told Xinhua.

All the abductees are civilians, he added.

Another provincial council member in Saripul province, Ghulam Nabi Khuram, also confirmed the incident and in talks with Xinhua blamed the Taliban outfit for the abduction.

Taliban militants have yet to make comment.

With the herald of spring and the weather getting warmer, militancy usually gets new impetus in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs in a statement released here Wednesday said that 29 Taliban militants had been killed during a series of operations across the war- wracked country over the past 24 hours.

Another 32 militants, according to the statement, were injured during the operations which were conducted in Nangarhar, Laghman, Takhar, Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Zabul, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Farah and Helmand provinces over the period.

Afghan observers believe that militancy would increase in spring and summer commonly known as the fighting season in Afghanistan.

The anti-government militants, according to observers, would exert pressure on the government by conducting subversive activities including organizing suicide attacks, roadside bombings and kidnapping soft targets to terrorize people. Endi