KABUL. Aug 3 (Interfax) - Afghan government forces have killed 375 members of the Taliban (banned in Russia) and injured 193 others over the past 24 hours, the press center for the Afghan Defense Ministry said on Tuesday morning.
The heaviest fighting broke out for control over the city of Lashkargah, the center of Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province, and around Herat, the capital of Herat Province in the country's west.
Seventy-seven terrorists, among them three key leaders of the movement, were killed as Afghan government forces repelled a Taliban attack on Lashkargah, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesperson Fawad Aman said on Tuesday morning.
Twenty-two militants were injured as a result of an airstrike and a ground forces operation on the outskirts of Lashkarga, Aman said.
"Operations against terrorists in the capital of Helmand Province are continuing," he said.
Government forces have pushed the militants beyond the boundaries of the city, and security belts are being created, Aman said.
Despite the heavy losses sustained by the militants, the Lashkargah siege is continuing. Videos showing fierce fighting around the city are being posted online.
In Herat, defense and security forces, special operations forces, and popular mobilization units, backed by the air force, are repelling the attacks being mounted by Taliban fighters, who have approached the city's central parts.
Forty-one terrorists have been killed and another 32 have been injured in armed clashes for Herat, the press center for the 207th Zafar Corps of the Afghan National Army said on Tuesday morning.
The provinces of Nuristan, Logar, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Jowzjan, Balkh, Samangan, Kapisa, and Baghlan have also seen intense armed clashes in the past 24 hours.