Kabul - At least 35 militants including two rebel commanders were killed in separate clashes with Afghan and coalition forces, and 14 others were detained, officials said Saturday.

Two commanders were among 20 militants killed in a fight with Afghan ground forces and an airstrike by NATO forces in the Aab Band district of southern Ghazni province on Friday, Asmail Jahangir, spokesman for the provincial governor said.

"Twenty Taliban, including, Mullah Hafiz and Mullah Kochi, were killed in this operation," Jahangir said, adding that the militants were killed after the joint forces got intelligence information about their presence in the area.

Meanwhile, two would-be suicide bombers were killed when their explosive-filled vest exploded prematurely in northern province of Faryab, Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The men were killed when they were riding on a motorbike in Garziwan district of the province on Friday, the statement said.

Three other militants were killed and one other arrested by Afghan and NATO forces in Yaqoubi district of south-eastern Khost province on Friday, the Defence Ministry said.

The militants were killed by the joint forces as they were planting roadside bomb on the main road in the district, it said.

In other incidents, US military said on Saturday that their forces killed 10 insurgents and detained 13 others in separate operations in eastern province of Nangarhar and south-eastern province of Khost on Friday.

Six militants were killed and ten others were arrested in Acheen district of Nangarhar, while four other militants were killed and three detained in Spera and Sabari districts of the Khost province, the US military said.

Two other "known Taliban militants" were killed by Afghan and NATO forces in Khak Safaeed district of western Farah province, a separate Afghan Defence Ministry statement said Saturday.

Meanwhile, in a series of assassinations of high government officials, gunmen killed Astad Qasim, the district administrative chief of Teyura district of western Ghor province on Friday evening, provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori said.

He said the assassins fled the area following the shooting.

Taliban-led militants have killed several Afghan provincial officials in southern, eastern and western provinces of the country recently.

At least three officials, including the deputy intelligence chief of Kandahar province, were killed by militants in Kandahar city in the past six weeks.

Taliban militants have stepped up their attacks on Afghan and international forces this year. Over 4,000 people - mostly insurgents - have been killed in Afghanistan conflicts in 2008 so far. (dpa)