KHOST - Nearly 94 suicide attacks were prevented and 27 would-be bombers were captured in Khost province over the past one year, officials said on Saturday.

Deputy Intelligence Chief, Adam Khan Zurmati, told a press conference in Khost City that 24 individuals had been detained for facilitating insurgent attacks and nine more for financing insurgents.

The intelligence official said 505 people had been nabbed on different charges during the year, adding that 300 pistols, 90 Kalashnikovs, eight rocket propelled grenades, seven machine guns, as well as 45 light and heavy guns were seized during the operations.

Brigadier Gen. Muhammad Nasir Hidayat, the 203rd Thunder Military Corps commander, claimed that 131 fighters had been killed during military operations in Khost, Paktya and Paktika provinces. He said 25 Afghan army officers and soldiers lost their lives and another 88 sustained injuries and 56 insurgents had been killed and 185 others wounded during police operations in the province.

Provincial Police Chief, Gen. Abdul Qayyum, said about 17 militants were killed in explosions caused by their own bombs, adding that 33 policemen sacrificed their lives and 96 sustained injuries during the period, when five abducted children were rescued.

As officials said security in Khost had improved, the governor asserted a number of reconstruction projects had been launched and completed during the past year.

Source: Awoshtoon Radio