Afghan security forces have killed seven militants in the latest military operation in Logar Province, where Taliban insurgents have a strong presence, a local police chief has said.

Esmatullah Alizai said that government forces also seized weapons from the militants during the operation in Logar's volatile Charkh district on March 24.

Alizai said more than 20 militants were killed, 10 wounded, and four others detained since the military sweep in Logar, southeast of the capital, Kabul, began three weeks ago, amid Afghanistan's spring fighting season.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, officials say security forces uncovered a plot to detonate explosives inside a mosque in the northern province of Sar-e Pol.

Provincial Governor Mohammad Zahir Wahdat said on March 25 that a man was arrested in suspicion of planting a bomb inside the Guzar Shahan mosque ahead of Friday Prayers on March 24.

With reporting by Khaama.com</s>A local police chief said more than 20 militants were killed since the military sweep in Logar, southeast of the capital, Kabul, began three weeks ago. Afghan security forces have killed seven militants in the latest military operation in Logar Province, where Taliban insurgents have a strong presence, a local police chief has said.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Weekday Magazine.</s>Police and local officials evacuated their compounds in the central district of Yamgan in Badakhshan province on Saturday as militants laid siege to the area, provincial governor Shah Waliullah Adib told Reuters.

"But they now are fighting to take back control of the district," Adib said.

"We have enough forces to take the district back and keep it in future."

Six militants were killed by Afghan security forces during the clearance operation, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said on Twitter.

Fighting in Afghanistan intensifies each spring as snows that make mountainous areas impassable melt, allowing greater movement of fighters and weapons. The Taliban's offensive has been more aggressive and widespread than previous years, including an earlier attack in Badakhshan's Jorm district in April.

This is the first year that Afghanistan's security forces are facing the insurgency on their own, after most foreign troops withdrew at the end of last year and the new NATO-led mission shifted its focus to training and advising the Afghan military and government.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Taliban spokesman said its fighters had killed 18 Afghan security force members, though the insurgent group's claims of casualty numbers are often inflated.

In the first four months of 2015, the United Nations recorded 2,937 casualties nationwide, including 974 deaths, a record number and a 16 percent increase over the same period last year.
According to a local police chief, at least seven militants are killed by Afghan security forces in Logar Province.