Kabul, Jan 9 (IANS): At least eight Taliban militants were killed and 13 arrested in a series of military operations in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, the country's interior ministry said Monday.

"Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army, NDS or Afghan intelligence agency and NATO-led coalition forces launched 15 joint operations in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktia and Herat provinces over the last 24 hours," Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.

"As a result of these operations, eight armed insurgents were killed, one was wounded and 13 others were arrested by the ANP," the ministry said.

The toll included the seven suspected militants in Helmand province who were killed when a unit of the Afghan National Directorate of Security launched an operation Sunday on a Taliban hideout in Mirmandab area of Gereshk district.

The ANP, meanwhile, also confiscated 11 AK-47 guns, one PKM machine gun, five pistols, 20 anti-vehicle mines, five radio handsets, 11 hand grenades, 180 kg of explosives, 100 kg of chemicals, 12 heavy bullets, 25 kg of opium, 450 kg of hashish, a motorbike and one vehicle used by the Taliban, the release added.

The Taliban were yet to make any comment on the incidents.