Sixteen Taliban insurgents were captured by the police Friday morning in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local official told Xinhua.

The militants were caught in Garmser district at 6:00 a.m. (0130 GMT), said Mohammad Rasul, the district chief.

The militants entered the district in two vehicles early in the morning, and local residents reported this to the police.

The police surrounded the militants, who surrendered without fighting.

Some Taliban fighters captured the center of Garmser district, southeast of the volatile Helmand province, on July 17, but Afghan and the U.S.-led coalition forces regained it two days later.

Over 600 Taliban extremists have been killed in southern Afghanistan in the past 45 days during the Operation Mountain Thrust launched by more than 11,000 Afghan and coalition forces, according to coalition forces.

Afghanistan has suffered from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, and only in the past two months, nearly 900 people have been killed.

Source: Xinhua