KABUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghan army and police, backed by NATO-led coalition troops, have eliminated 16 Taliban insurgents and detained 23 others during military operations within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday morning.

"The joint forces launched 10 cleanup operations in Kabul, Helmand, Kandahar, Sari Pul, Baghlan, Logar, Wardak, Paktia and Farah provinces replica ray bans, killing 16 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 23 others," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates to media.

They also found and seized weapons besides defusing 16 rounds of different mines, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

However, the Taliban insurgent group, which announced the launching of a spring offensive from May 3 against Afghan and NATO forces, has not to make comments yet.

Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants throughout the country since the beginning of the spring but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

Four policemen were killed and another was injured when their patrolling van hit a roadside bomb in northern Baghlan province on Monday evening.