The Afghan forces thwarted a Taliban attack on security checkpoints in southern Kandahar province, killing at least 15 militants, the Defense Ministry (MoD) confirmed.

The MoD said in a statement Friday that the Afghan forces targeted the militants in Shahwali Kot district of the province on Thursday.

At least 15 insurgents were killed and six more were wounded in the raids, the statement added.

“They were targeted by ANA while they were planning to attack ANDSF checkpoints, and a large amount of their ammunition and weapons were destroyed as well,” the statement read.

The Taliban yet comment in this regard.

It comes as the intra-Afghan negotiation, aimed to find a political settlement for ending the long-term war in Afghanistan, is expected to kick start in the next few days.

The Afghan government on Thursday released the final batch of the Taliban “hard-core” prisoners, except for seven, paving the way for the talks.

Meanwhile, Briefing the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Deborah Lyons, said that “the level of violence on the battlefield remains deeply worrying.”

She called on the two sides to consider a humanitarian ceasefire as one of the first items on the agenda of Intra- Afghan negotiations.

“For Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people, the stakes could not be higher. I urge all member states to amplify this call as the negotiations begin. And the negotiations will begin,” she noted.

“After four decades of war, the people of Afghanistan have more reason than ever to hope that this devastating conflict may come to an end,” the UN envoy said.