At least 16 Taliban militants have been killed in "clean-up" operations in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on Sunday. Afghan police, army and personnel from the NATO-led coalition forces launched joint operations in Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Wardak, Logar, Herat, Farah, Ghor and Helmand provinces, Xinhua reported.

A total of 22 Taliban militants were arrested.

The ministry did not say if there were any casualties among the security forces.

The Taliban did not make any comment.