MAIMANA, Afghanistan, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Air Force launched deadly airstrikes, destroying multiple terrorists' hideouts and killing 19 insurgents in Afghanistan's northern Faryab province, a local official said Sunday.

The raids were carried out late on Saturday in the troubled Khawja Sabz Posh and Qaysar districts of the province, leaving 19 militants including three of their local leaders, Mullah Ahmad, Qari Feda Mohammad and Mullah Khairullah, dead and seven others wounded, Abdul Karim Yourush, provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua.

Those among the killed were three foreign militants, Yourush added.

According to him, four civilians including women and children were also killed, when a mortar fired by Taliban militants hit their house in Garziwan district of the province on Saturday.

The Taliban militants have not commented on the report.

Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency spreads from its traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful region in the north.