The Afghan military Thursday said they had arrested 20 Taliban militants during a crackdown in southern parts of Afghanistan over the past 24 hours. The operation was launched in the volatile Zabul province after the insurgents attacked a police convoy and killed deputy police chief of the province. Spokesman for the governor of the Zabul province Gulab Shah Alikhel told journalists hundreds of soldiers backed by the US-led coalition forces were taking part in the operation started two days back in the province. He said police and military personnel had been fanned out in Qalat, Shojoy and Shahri Safa districts and they were also searching buildings where they believed Taliban had taken refuge. Deputy police chief of Afghanistan's Zabul province was killed in a rocket attack by Taliban on Tuesday.The spokesman said rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), some heavy machineguns and motorbikes have also been recovered during raids on the hideouts of the insurgents. But Taliban spokesman rejected the claim as baseless and said none of their fighters were arrested by the police or Afghan army. Meanwhile, the coalition forces said they had arrested a Taliban fighter following a shoot-out in the Arghandab district of the southern Kandahar province. Spokesman for the US-led coalition forces in Kandahar Major Innis said their forces were attacked while patrolling in Karto village. The forces chased the attackers and arrested one of them.