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Up to 54 Taliban insurgents have been killed and 33 others injured during Afghan army operations in Afghanistan?s southern Helmand province on Sunday night, the provincial government said in a statement released Monday.

?Afghan special forces conducted night operations against insurgents in Nawa district on Sunday night which resulted in killing of 42 rebels and injuring 27 others," the statement said.

According to the statement, four Taliban local commanders were also among those killed. Security forces also seized weapons and 18 motorbikes during the operations, Chinese media outlet Xinhua reported.

Airstrikes were also carried out by the Afghan air force on two important bases of the Taliban militants in the outskirts of Helmand provincial capital Lashkargah over the past 24 hours, in which 12 more insurgents were killed and six others injured, the statement added.

Over the past few years, Helmand has been considered an important stronghold of the Taliban militants.