Residents of Bati Kot district in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Saturday blocked the Jalalabad-Torkham highway over rising security concerns in the areas, TOLOnews reported. 

Earlier, four members, including a commander, of an uprising force were killed in the area when they clashed with the Taliban insurgent. Officials claimed the Taliban also suffered a heavy casualty in the fighting. 

Following the incident, locals blocked the highway, accusing the government of the lack of support to uprising forces against the Taliban. The province governor, Ziaul Haq Amarkhel, said on Saturday that at least 18 insurgents of the Taliban were killed on Friday in an airstrike conducted by the Afghan forces in Pachiragam district.  

The governor also claimed among the deads included some of the notorious foreign commanders who were fighting alongside the Taliban in Wali Naw locality. 

In a separate incident in Faryab province, Mullah Nazem, the Taliban shadow governor of the province, and five other insurgents were killed on Saturday night when one of their explosives exploded. The incident happened in Dawlat Abad district. 

The Taliban released a statement denying the death of its shadow governor.