At least 30 militants were killed and 60 were captured Friday in an operation led by Afghan and US-led Coalition forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, an Afghan official said Saturday.

The operation was carried out in the Girishk district of Helmand and a large number of weapons were found, a spokesperson of the Defense Ministry said.

Taliban militants, who vowed to derail the upcoming parliamentary elections on September 18, killed at least 16 people,including a British engineer and a candidate, in Kandahar, Zabul and other southern provinces in the past few days.

Earlier on Wednesday, four people were killed and two were injured in a suicide attack in the Girishk district of Helmand.

On Saturday, militants ambushed a car that the defense ministerwas supposed to be traveling in. But the minister escaped the assassination attempt by taking a helicopter instead.

Source: Xinhua