Up to 18 Taliban militant have been killed in one-day military operations in different Afghan provinces, the country's Interior Ministry said Monday.

"Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched four cleanup operations in Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktika and Helmand provinces, killing 18 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining four others within the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

Separately, four militant, who were emplacing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) along a main road in Sayed Abad district, eastern Wardak province, were killed when their IEDs went off prematurely on Sunday, according to the statement.

Additionally, the ANP found and defused five IEDs as a result of security operations in Laghman, Kapisa, Zabul and Khost provinces on Sunday, it said.

In another development, five militant were killed when they launched an attack against border police checkpoints in Lal Poor district in eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan overnight, a police spokesman in the region, Idris Momand, told Xinhua on Monday, adding no policeman was injured in the attack.

The Taliban insurgents, who have been waging more than a decade- long insurgency, launched an annual rebel offensive starting from May 3 to target Afghan forces and some 100,000 US and NATO troops stationed in the country.

The insurgent group has yet to make comments.