At least 18 Taliban fighters were killed by Afghan security forces in the country's Kunduz province, an army spokesman said on Friday."The security forces, after days of heavy fighting, were able to liberate 20 villages from Taliban clutches in Qala-e-Zal district on Thursday," Xinhua news agency quoted spokesman Ghulam Hazrat Karimi as saying. During the operations, dozens of mines planted by militants on the roads have also been discovered and defused, he added.The spokesman said the operations would continue until government control was restored in the area.The Taliban militants were yet to make any comment.