KABUL, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 44 militants have been confirmed dead over the past 24 hours as the government forces have launched operations against armed groups in the conflict-battered country, officials said Sunday.

In the latest crackdown, the government forces targeted Taliban hideouts in Miwand district of the southern Kandahar province early Sunday, killing seven armed militants and injuring another, said an army statement released Sunday.

Similarly, the Afghan army in another statement reported killing 12 militants in the neighboring Uruzgan province over the past 24 hours.

The army has also claimed to have bombed Taliban positions and killed six insurgents in Nad Ali district of the southern Helmand province on Saturday.

The security forces have killed six militants and injured eight others in Qarabagh district of the eastern Ghazni province since Saturday, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri told Xinhua on Sunday.

Army spokesman Mohammad Hanif Rezai said airstrikes had killed four Taliban fighters and injured six others in Dasht-e-Qala district of the northern Takhar province on Sunday.

Inamudin Rahmani, a spokesman for police in Takhar's neighboring Kunduz province, claimed that nine Taliban fighters were killed and six others injured as their explosive device exploded prematurely in Qala-e-Zal district of the province on Sunday afternoon.

The Taliban's comment was not immediately available on the militant group's casualties.