Afghan forces offensives kill 32 militants in northern region

Up to 32 insurgents have been killed over the past three days as government forces intensified crackdowns against anti-government militants including the hardliner Islamic State (IS) group in the northern Jawzjan and the neighboring Faryab provinces, security officials said Tuesday.

In the latest operations against IS outfit in Darzab district of the relatively troubled Jawzjan province, nine militants were killed and 13 others sustained injuries over the past 24 hours, said a statement of the 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan National Arnmy in the northern region.

A major offensive of the radical Islamic State outfit has been repulsed and several villages liberated from the clutches of the hardliner group, the statement asserted.

Earlier, police spokesman in the northern region, Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, told Xinhua that Afghan government forces killed six IS militants and injured five others in Darzab district of Jawzjan province in a clash flared early Tuesday morning.

According to Hussaini, the government forces backed by air power would continue to pursue the armed militants elsewhere in the northern region to ensure durable peace there.

In similar crackdown against armed opposition groups, the government forces targeted Taliban positions in Pashtun Kot and Dawlatabad districts of Faryab province since Sunday killing 23 insurgents, according to an army spokesman in the northern region Nasratullah Jamshidi

According to security officials, the government forces would continue to mount pressure on militants to shrink militants' ability ahead of spring and summer commonly known as fighting season in Afghanistan.