Taliban-led insurgency in the war- torn Afghanistan have left 119 people dead including 75 Taliban insurgents, 18 civilians and 26 personnel of Afghan National Police (ANP) over the past week, spokesman of Interior Ministry Zamarai Bashari said Sunday.

"Seventy-seven terrorist attacks including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosions have been registered throughout the country over the past week which indicates 22 percent decrease in comparison with the previous week," Bashari told reporters in a regular press conference here.

Providing details on the casualties, he said that 36 Afghan civilians, 39 ANP personnel and 16 militants were wounded in the same period.

Majority of the incidents had occurred in southern Helmand, northern Faryab and eastern Ghazni and Kunar provinces where Taliban militants are active, he said.

According to Bashari, 196 more Taliban insurgents and other anti-government militants have been arrested by police over the above period.

"Over 60 roadside bombs and IEDs had been found and defused by police in the past week," Bashari added.

Regarding the anti-drug war in the major poppy producing country, he said dozens of search operations had been launched by police and special counter-narcotics police force which had resulted in arrest of 35 drug smugglers and seizure of over 230 kg of narcotics.

He said that 56 local and international private security firms have been dissolved since the process began in early October this year.

The private security firms often provide security guards to diplomatic missions and international agencies based in Kabul and other cities as well as escort for the logistic convoys of NATO- led troops. President Hamid Karzai in a decree issued in August accused the private security firms of involvement in malpractice and instructed the Interior Ministry to disband them.

More than 2,900 various kinds of rifles have been collected from the private security firms so far, he said.
Source: Xinhuanet