KABUL: Afghan authorities said Wednesday that local security forces backed by NATO troops killed more than three dozen rebels in a series of military operations across insurgency-hit Afghanistan.

The raids were announced on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration for a second five-year term.

Karzai is under pressure from Western backers to curb corruption and restore legitimacy after a presidential election marred by fraud as the United States considers sending thousands more troops to quell a Taliban-led insurgency.

Twenty-three Taliban-linked militants were killed in an operation by Afghan and Western troops in the province of Paktika late Tuesday, Hamidullah Zhwak, a provincial spokesman, said in a statement.

NATO warplanes pounded insurgent positions in support of ground forces in Paktika's Barmal district on the Pakistani border, the spokesman added.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could not immediately comment but was checking the reported air strikes.

About 16 other insurgents were killed in separate operations, involving Afghan and international forces, in several provinces mainly in the south where the insurgency is most intense, the defence ministry said.

Dozens of insurgents were captured during those operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.

Officials said recently that Afghan security forces, backed by ISAF and a separate US-led coalition, have intensified operations against rebels.

US President Barack Obama is expected to decide shortly whether to order up to 40,000 extra American soldiers to Afghanistan in an effort to turn around the war against the Taliban.

Their insurgency has hit new highs this year, the deadliest for Western and Afghan forces since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001.

According to the www.icasualties.org website, 472 coalition soldiers including 290 Americans have died since the beginning of the year.

Western diplomats and officials have warned that the Taliban will try to attack in the capital Kabul to mar Thursday's inauguration which foreign dignitaries are expected to attend.

The government has vowed maximum security.