KABUL, July 31 (Xinhua) -- More than 140 militants have been killed in the militancy-battered Afghanistan over the past 24 hours as Afghan forces pressure on militants has been increased, officials said Wednesday.
The increase in crackdowns on militants is taking place amid government preparation for intra-Afghan talks, expected to begin within the next couple of weeks.
The Afghan government, according to local media, is preparing to initiate direct talks with the Taliban outfit in the coming weeks to find a negotiated solution to the country's lingering crisis.
However, Taliban group has rejected the reports of agreeing to sit on negotiating table with Afghan administration.
The government in latest crackdown on militants, struck a Taliban bastion in Qala-e-Zal district of northern Kunduz province by unmanned plane, killing 16 militants and injuring 20 others on Wednesday morning, district governor Mohammad Fahim Qarluq said.
According to Qarluq, 19 more militants were killed on Tuesday in the restive Qala-e-Zal district.
The government forces had killed 56 militants and injured more than 30 others in Kunduz, neighboring Baghlan province, a day earlier on Tuesday, army spokesman in northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai has confirmed.
Similarly, the government forces have killed 32 armed insurgents in parts of the southern Zabul province over the past 24 hours, army spokesman in the southern region Sediq Eisa said.
The security forces, according to the officials, have killed 25 militants in the troubled Helmand, Ghazni and Logar provinces since Tuesday.
Taliban outfit has yet to comment on the claims made by the officials.
Afghan observers believe that both the government and the Taliban militants would do their best to gain more grounds and talk from a strong position in the possible direct talks.
Direct talks between Afghan government and the Taliban outfit, according to media reports expected in the coming weeks after reaching a deal between the U.S. and Taliban group.
The eight round of talks between the U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban representatives, according to media, would be held in Qatar capital Doha within days to find end to the U.S. longest war in its history.
Afghan state Minister for Peace Abdul Salam Rahimi, according to media, said recently that the government delegation would meet Taliban representatives in a European country within the next two weeks.
"Both the Taliban and government would spare no efforts including exerting military pressures on each other's to gain more grounds and secure upper hand in any possible talks for ending the war and achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan," political analyst Khan Mohammad Daneshjo told Xinhua.
