GHAZNI CITY - Up to 190 insurgents have been detained over the past two months in the southern province of Ghazni, a National Directorate of Security (NDS) official claimed on Sunday.

The detainees were involved in the assassination of government officials, abductions and attacks, NDS Director Ali Ahmad Mubarez told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The captives had confessed to their crimes during interrogations, he said adding the arrest of the insurgents had helped improve the security environment in the province.

“Taliban fighters will never achieve their aims and cannot fight face to face against the security personnel. They are misled people who are destroying their own country to please outsiders,” he remarked.

The Taliban had been trying over the past few months to capture Giru, Gilan and Qarabagh districts of Ghazni, but their plans had failed, said the former governor of the province, Musa Khan Akbarzada.

“The detainees should be awarded harsh punishment to set a deterrent example for others,” observed a resident of Ghazni City, Mohammad Anwar. The security personnel detained militants who were freed without being punished due to corruption in the government.

Meanwhile, a statement from the NDS office in southern Kandahar province said security forces had arrested four militants. Detainees Naqibullah and Habibullah are from Kandahar and Niamatullah and Qudratullah from Zabul. (Pajhwok)