KABUL, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Afghan police have arrested 16 suspected Taliban militias and seized a large amount of arms and ammunitions in central Afghanistan during the Eid festival ending the annual fasting month in the weekend, a senior Afghan officer said here Tuesday.

    "Acting on a tip-off, our forces conducted a clean-up operationin Jalriz district Saturday and arrested 16 Taliban militias, including a key commander Shir Mohammad," Syed Abdul Rafi, the deputy commander of Quick Reaction Force (QRF) of the Interior Ministry told Xinhua.

    QRF also discovered a weapons cache containing BM12 rockets, anti-personnel mines and dozens of mortar mines in Shir Mohammad's house, along with six anti-aircraft guns and two RPGs, he added.     

    Jalriz, 60 km west of Kabul, was a main base of the former Taliban regime during its six-year-long reign that ended three years ago.

    Afghan law enforcement agencies, backed by the US military and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have stepped up operations against the remnants of the former regime ahead of the Oct. 9 presidential elections.

    Another eight suspected Taliban militias were taken into custody in the troubled southern province of Uruzgan and the southeast Paktia early last week. Enditem