Suspected Taliban members held in Afghanistan

Afghan troops have arrested 19 militants, including five suspected members, including multiple raids across the country.

Afghan troops have arrested 19 militants, including five suspected Taliban members, in multiple raids across the country's south, the Defence Ministry said on Friday.

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Eleven militants, including at least three Taliban members identified as Mullah Salam, Mullah Adbul Rahman and Shawali, were detained on Thursday in the Andar district of Ghazni province, south of the capital, Kabul, ministry spokesman Gen. Zaher Azemi said in a statement.

Two more Taliban militants were arrested before "trying to launch a terror attack" in the southern Helmand province's Sangin district.

Soldiers captured four unspecified militants in the Paktika province, while another was detained in the neighbouring Zabul province, both in the south.

On Wednesday, one more militant armed with a pistol was detained near the Pakistani border in Spinboldak, Kandahar province.

Afghan and US-led coalition forces have been battling a resurgent militant campaign, led by remnants of the toppled Taliban regime, in recent months.