Kabul, Sep 3 (Xinhua) Eighty-nine Taliban militants were killed in the past 24 hours in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, a defence ministry spokesman said Sunday.

The militants were killed in Panjwai and Jalai districts in Operation MEDUSA, which was launched on Saturday by around 2,000 troops of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan forces, said Zahir Azimi.

Earlier, ISAF spokesman Luke Knittig told a press conference that around 20 Taliban insurgents had been killed in the operation.

An ISAF statement said the operation, which is the largest since it took command in southern Afghanistan on July 31, aims to drive Taliban fighters out of Panjwai district to set conditions for reconstruction and development.

A considerable amount of ground has been gained by ISAF and Afghan forces in the district, the statement indicated, adding that "a significant number of suspected insurgents were detained" by the Afghan police.

A British reconnaissance plane of ISAF crashed near Panjwai on Saturday, killing all 14 soldiers on board.

ISAF has denied a claim by the Taliban that its militants shot down the plane, saying "a technical problem" caused the accident.

An ISAF spokesman said all soldiers' remains had been retrieved and would be transported to the Kandahar airfield before being sent back to Britain, according to reports.

Panjwai, about 40 km west of Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar province, has been a hotbed of Taliban militants, who attack ISAF and Afghan troops frequently.

Afghanistan is suffering from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, with more than 2,000 people, mostly Taliban rebels, killed. Among the fatalities are over 100 foreign troops.