KABUL: NATO says joint raids with Afghan forces have killed at least three and captured 11 Taliban commanders and facilitators who provided logistical support and weapons to insurgents.

Friday's statement from the coalition says an operation earlier this week in Bakwah district in Farah province resulted in the killing of a senior insurgent leader and two of his commanders, as well as a "number of additional insurgents."

Early on Friday, NATO and Afghan troops captured 11 Taliban fighters or sympathizers in five separate operations across the country.

Nighttime kill-and-capture raids, in which a number of civilians have died, have become a flashpoint for anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has demanded that foreign troops stop breaking into homes.