KABUL, Dec. 18 -- Four militants were killed and 23 others detained in military operations across Afghanistan since early Tuesday, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday morning.

"In the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several anti-terrorism joint operations with Afghan National Army and National Directorate for Security (NDS) to clean some of the areas from terrorists and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the operations were conducted in Kandahar, Uruzgan, Wardak and Logar provinces.

"As a result, four armed Taliban members were killed and 23 others were arrested by Afghan National Security Forces. Also, during these operations, Afghan National Police discovered and confiscated light and heavy rounds ammunition," the statement said.

The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.

Afghan security forces have stepped up military operations against militants since they took the operational lead from NATO and U.S. troops in June. The militants responded by armed attacks and bombings.

Earlier on Wednesday, one policeman and three Taliban militants were killed and 16 trucks were destroyed when Taliban launched a massive suicide and shooting attack against a NATO-led coalition forces in Torkham, a bordering town near the Pakistan border.

The ANP also discovered and defused five rounds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Laghman and Logar provinces at the same period of time, the statement noted.