KABUL

At least 11 suspected militants were killed, including eight in a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province early Sunday, Afghan officials said.

The airstrike took place in Lal Pura district near the Pakistani border at a time when Afghan security forces stepped up their ground clearance operation in the area.

According to local officials, three Taliban militants were killed and five others were injured in the ground operation.

“Afghan national security forces conducted a joint clearance operation in Lal Pura district early Sunday morning which was supported by U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes,” provincial governor’s spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

Several vehicles and weapons belonging to the militants were also destroyed.

Sources in the Afghan government told AA that Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S.-led international security forces were planning a trilateral operation against militants on both sides of the Afghan-Pak border.

Afghan security forces took full security responsibility when NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ended its 13-years mission in Afghanistan on Dec. 31, 2014.

From Jan. 1, 2015, the mission officially evolved into training and advising the nascent Afghan security forces.