At least eight Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers lost their lives in the latest counter-terrorism operations across the country, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.
“The Afghan National Army (ANA) forces are prepared for all kinds of devotion and with all force to maintain security and comfort for the people of Afghanistan,” a statement by MoD said, adding that 6 Afghan soldiers were martyred during counter-terrorism operations against the internal and foreign terrorists.
The statement by MoD further added that 23 militants were killed, 5 militants were wounded during the clearance operations conducted in Nangarhar, Helmand, Herat, Paktia, and Khost provinces.
There has been a sharp rise in the casualties of the Afghan national security forces since they took full control of the security responsibilities from the coalition forces at the start of last year.
According to the earlier estimates by security officials, the Afghan army deaths stood at 4 service members daily on average which is mainly caused due to improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.
The Afghan armed forces have stepped up counter-terrorism operations amid rampant Taliban-led insurgency during the past several months which has been unprecedented as the militants group was usually reducing insurgency activities during the winter time.
This comes despite ongoing efforts to end the violence through reconciliation process but the Taliban group has not shown a positive sign to participate in the talks so far.
