(KUNA) -- At least six Taliban militants have been killed in a clash with Afghan police in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. A statement from the ministry said the dead included two local commanders, Mullah Zikria and Mullah Agha Jan, and their four colleagues. They were killed in an encounter in Zerai district of Kandahar province on Monday.The statement said several more suspected militants were captured for their alleged links with the Taliban in the neighbouring district of Arghandab in the same province. The militants so far did not issue any comment on the fresh government claim. A day earlier, a few dozen Afghans saged a protest demonstration against the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by British troops in the neighbouring province of Helmand. However, some locals as well as Afghan officials disputed the reports.
Both the locals of Helmand province and police said such reports were spread by Taliban militants to provoke the people of Helmand province against the foreign troops and the government. About two months back, the militants had suffered a set back in the district of Musa Qala in the same province as it was retaken by the foreign and Afghan troops in a joint operation.