KABUL -- Security forces recently killed at least 160 Taliban in re-opening the Helmand-Kandahar highway, Helmand Governor Hayatullah Hayat said September 8, according to Pajhwok Afghan News.
The troops defused about 1,020 land mines in making the highway safe again, Hayat said.
Militants killed at least 25 police officers recently when they attacked two highway check-posts, a security source said.
Meanwhile, at least eight Afghans, including women and children, were killed in Baghlan-e-Markazi, Baghlan Province, September 8, when a bomb exploded, district police chief Mohibullah said September 9, according to TOLO News. Khaama Press reported the cause of the blast as a mortar round, however.
In other news, militants recently kidnapped 11 passengers from a vehicle in Bala Balok District, Farah Province, provincial council chairman Farid Bakhtawar told Pajhwok Afghan News September 8.
In Jawzjan Province, 12 Taliban, including the chief of the Taliban commission for five northern provinces, recently surrendered, officials said September 8, according to Pajhwok Afghan News.
