KABUL, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan army personnel found and defused 58 rounds of landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) across the militancy-hit country within the last 24 hours, the Defense Ministry said Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that the engineering teams of Afghan National Army will spare no efforts to recover and thwart the IEDs and landmines as they remained a major threat to the military personnel and civilians.
The Taliban militant group and Islamic State (IS) affiliates use the simple but difficult-to-be-detected IEDs to target security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians, according to military officials.
The latest recovery of the landmines and IEDs would further improve the public security and have foiled major terror attacks, saving scores of lives from expected tragedies.
The statement came as Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as more than 1,660 civilians were killed and over 3,580 others injured in conflict-related incidents across Afghanistan in the first six months of the year, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country.
Out of the casualties, 337 civilians were killed and 591 wounded in IED attacks over the period.
