KABUL, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Militants fighting the Afghan government have sharply increased their activities, a local newspaper quoted Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar as saying on Monday.

    "Last week, 126 militant attacks had been registered in 25 provinces, which indicate a 40 percent increase over the week before," the daily Arman-e-Millie reported based on the minister's comment.

    These attacks which include suicide bombings, roadside and mineexplosions, according to the minister, had claimed 48 lives and injured 111 others, all of them civilians.

    Atmar said that 176 terrorists had been killed and 36 others wounded over the past week which indicates a 45 percent increase in militants' casualties.

    Meantime, the Afghan Interior Ministry said that criminal activities had reduced 5 percent over the past week as 119 criminal cases have been registered in 21 out of the country's 34 provinces over the past one week in comparison with the previous week.

    The official made these remarks while 10 out of some 400 districts of the country are out of control of the central government.