Press TV / January 8, 2016

About 140 members of the Taliban militant group have been killed in a series of Afghan army operations against the extremists across the country.

Provincial police chief, Brigadier General Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said on Wednesday that 120 Taliban terrorists have been killed in an offensive in the Marjah district of the southern province of Helmand since Monday.

“We have had a lot of achievements from this operation and we will continue until we free Marjah from Taliban,” he added.

Sarjang also said that the main road leading to the restive district, which remained blocked for two years, is now open to traffic.

The top Afghan security official further noted that police forces have beefed up their presence in Marjah, giving assurances that Taliban could not stage a comeback.

Elsewhere in the country, Afghan army troops backed by security forces killed nearly 20 Taliban militants in a series of mop-up operations.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that 19 militants were killed and two others injured in a series of operations carried out in the provinces of Ghazni, Herat, Kandahar, Laghman, Paktia, Paktika, Sar-e Pol and Urozgan.

The statement added that one Taliban member was also arrested during the offensives, without providing any information about potential casualties among soldiers and security forces.

Afghan soldiers also confiscated light and heavy weaponry and defused several rounds of improvised explosive devices.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.