Afghanistan's government says its security forces have killed nine armed insurgents and captured 23 suspects in a series of raids across the country.

An Interior Ministry statement issued Wednesday morning said the operations over the preceding 24 hours in eight different provinces also discovered caches of weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Meanwhile, the country's Defence Ministry says a soldier was killed and four were wounded in clashes with insurgents on Tuesday.

Fighting in much of the country appears to have decreased in recent weeks, after heavy snows blanketed much of the mountainous terrain in which the Taliban usually operate.

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