KABUL, April 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 militants have been killed as fighting aircraft targeted Taliban hideouts elsewhere in the conflict-battered Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, officials said Tuesday.

In the latest crackdown, the ground forces backed by fighting aircraft pounded Taliban hideouts in Uruzgan Khas district of the Uruzgan province on Tuesday, have killed 12 militants on the spot and destroyed three hideouts, said an army statement.

Similarly, the air raids against militants in Kunjak area of Imam Sahib district in the northern Kunduz province on Monday left 10 Taliban fighters dead and injured eight others, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said.

Moreover, five militants have been killed in the eastern Ghazni and eight others killed in the neighboring Paktika province since Monday, an army statement asserted on Tuesday.

More than 10 militants have been killed and nearly two dozen others sustained injuries as fighting aircraft pounded Taliban positions in Bala Blok district of the western Farah province over the past 24 hours, said an army spokesman in the western region, captain Sayed Agha Zia.

According to the official, airstrikes as effective weapon would continue to target militants' hideouts elsewhere in the country.