Kabul, Mar 21 (IANS): At least 36 people were killed in clashes in Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, according to a local war monitoring group.

"Within the past 24 hours, our team has documented 36 deaths, including one Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) member, and 35 Taliban militants," Xinhua news agency quoted the group, Reduction in Violence (RiV) as saying in a statement on Saturday.

The group said there were also 31 Taliban militants, and four security forces wounded in the cited period.

The casualties came from four violent incidents that took place in four of the country's 34 provinces, according to the RiV figures.

In an unrelated incident, the ANDSF arrested seven Taliban militants during a cleanup operation in Jaji Aryob district of Paktia province on Friday, the Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement earlier in the day.

The statement added that vast areas were cleared off from Taliban in the district, in the mountainous region.