KABUL, Afghanistan

The Afghan army on Wednesday claimed to have freed over 60 captive civilians and security forces from Taliban captivity in the restive northern Baghlan province.

The Defense Ministry said in a tweet that 62 people including 26 civilians and 36 security members freed from a Taliban prison by commandos in Baghlan Markazi district, Baghlan province last night.

Four "terrorists" were killed during the operation, and a large amount of weapons and ammunition destroyed, it added.

There was no immediate response from the Taliban on this matter.

Separately, the Afghan National Army's Shahin Corps in the north announced that 35 Taliban were killed and 16 others wounded in an airstrike on their bases in the Kalabaf area of Aqcha district in Jawzjan province.

Fierce clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban continue in a number of provinces as peace talks between the warring sides in Qatar, which began last September, have made little progress.

Violence has risen starkly since Washington announced plans to pull out all US troops by Sept. 11. A huge unclaimed attack on a school in Kabul killed dozens of students on May 8.

Interior Minister Hayatullah Hayat told the upper house of parliament on Tuesday that hostile regional intelligence agencies are propagating a psychological warfare, and foreign militants are backing insurgents in Afghanistan.

The same day, Pakistan's military took "serious note of the recent cross-border firing incidents from Afghanistan and regrouping of terrorist leadership," hoping that "Afghanistan soil will not be used against Pakistan."

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have time and again accused each other of harboring militants that plan and conduct cross-border attacks.

The evolving situation in the war-torn country has also been a concern for Turkey, which was set to host a peace conference in Istanbul last month but had to postpone it.

*With additional input from News Desk in Ankara