Afghan forces kill 31 Taliban amid flared-up fighting

By Shadi Khan Saif</p> <p>KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – Afghan security forces on Tuesday claimed to have killed 31 Taliban militants in different operations a day after the rebels killed and captured almost an entire company of the army.</p> <p>Amid stalled peace process, violence has flare-up evidently across the country with both sides fighting fiercely for turf.</p> <p>The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the land forces carried out 76 operations in different parts of the country while the air forces conducted 78 flights in the past 24 hours.</p> <p>The operations were conducted in the Kunar, Khost, Oruzgan, Badghis, Balkh and Helmand provinces, and left 31 Taliban militants dead, 19 others wounded.</p> <p>This comes just a day after the Taliban killed, wounded and took hostage of an entire Afghan National Army company of some 50 soldiers in the war-ravaged country.</p> <p>Abdul Aziz Baik, chairman for the Badghes provincial assembly, told Anadolu Agency that the Taliban stormed the Afghan National Army check posts in the Ludinha area of the Badghes province bordering Turkmenistan in the wee hours on Monday.</p> <p>He said 20 soldiers were killed, ten others injured and 20 more were taken away as captives by the rebels.</p> <p>The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed has asserted that a total of 57 soldiers have been killed, 12 wounded and eight more taken into custody in different provinces.</p> <p>It came in the backdrop of an ongoing marathon talks between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar over the proposed peace process in Afghanistan.