KABUL, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — Afghan army has found and defused 17 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in two southern provinces, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

“The Afghan National Army’s 205 Attal Corps personnel launched several cleanup operations in southern Kandahar and neighboring Uruzgan provinces, recovering 17 rounds of landmines and IEDs over the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Taliban militant group has been using homemade IEDs to target security forces, but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians, according to military officials.

Afghan security forces have assumed the full security charges from NATO and U.S. forces after the NATO-led troops completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence in the country.