Thirteen Taliban militants have been killed in separate Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, said the country's Interior Ministry on Sunday.

"In the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several clearance operations with the cooperation of the army, National Directorate for Security and Coalition Forces in Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman, Balkh, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak and Paktika provinces. As a result nine armed Taliban were killed, three wounded and 14 others were arrested," the ministry said in a statement.

The ANP also seized weapons and defused several roadside bombs, the statement added.

In addition, four militants and a policeman were killed and three militants and one policeman were wounded when the Taliban launched an attack on security checkpoints in Dehrawood district of southern Uruzgan province early Sunday morning, the provincial police spokesman Farid Ayal told Xinhua.

The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make any comment.