Kabul, July 13 (IANS) A total of 29 militants were killed as fighter planes struck Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Three key Taliban commanders were among those killed in the air raids along the road linking Jawzjan to the neighbouring Sari Pul province, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

A large quantity of arms and ammunitions of the militants were also destroyed in the airstrikes, it added.

Amid the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban has overrun more than a dozen districts in Jawzjan and the neighbouring Faryab, Balkh and Sari Pul provinces over the past two months.

--IANS ksk/