At least 25 Taliban insurgents killed in Afghanistan

Feb 28, Hardnews: At least 25 suspected Taliban militants were killed in fighting with Afghan security forces in Kabul, the police said Thursday.
Taliban ambushed a police convoy in Marja district of southern Helmand province Wednesday, wounding a policeman, Mohammad Hussain Andewal, provincial police chief said.

Police reinforcement was sent to the area and during a firefight that lasted for hours, "at least 25 Taliban militants were killed," Andewal said.

A statement from the Afghan ministry of interior said a top Taliban commander, Mullah Naqeeb, was also among those killed in Wednesday's gun battle.

The police convoy was part of the poppy eradication force, which was on its way to the district to destroy poppy crops, he added.

Helmand is Afghanistan's largest opium producing province with the Taliban militants controlling at least three districts.

Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and another wounded, when their car was blown up by a roadside bomb near Lashkargah, the capital city of the province Thursday morning, Andewal said.

Taliban-led insurgency is on the rise as the weather becomes warmer in the southern region, following a lull during the winter.