Roundup: Afghan conflicts claim 19 lives in 24 hours

Afghan militancy and counter-militancy have claimed 19 lives including 11 militants and seven security personnel in the country over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday.

Government forces in crackdown against Taliban outfit in the northern Kunduz province have claimed the lives of 11 militants over the past 24 hours, an army spokesman in the province Nasratullah Jamshidi said.

"The security forces have killed 11 armed rebels in several villages outside provincial capital the Kunduz city and Dasht-e-Archi district since Tuesday morning," Jamshidi told Xinhua.

There was no casualty on security personnel, the official contended.

Backed by helicopters, the operations would last until militants are wiped out from the area, the official added.

Meantime, the Afghan defense ministry confirmed in a statement released Wednesday the loss of seven soldiers across the country over the past 24 hours.

"Seven Afghan soldiers have been martyred during counter-terrorism operations elsewhere in the country over the past 24 hours," the statement asserted.

Several militants have also been killed and injured during the period, according to the statement.

Similarly, unknown armed men, obviously Taliban militants, gunned down a prosecutor and injured two others in Samangan province with Aybak city as its capital, 215 km north of Kabul on Wednesday, a local official said.

"Sardar Jahani, the military prosecutor of Bamyan province, was on his way to the central Bamyan province when armed militants opened fire on his car in Dara-e-Suf Payan district of Samangan province today morning, killing him on the spot and injuring two of his bodyguards," district governor Ahmad Mabariz told Xinhua. Endit