KABUL, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Taliban insurgents fighting Afghanistan government have vowed to launch spring offensive against Afghan and international troops stationed in the country, a top commander of the outfit said Tuesday.

Mullah Brother who claims to be deputy to the outfit's supreme but elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar read out a statement to media outlets in south Afghanistan stressed that the Taliban would launch spring operation dubbed "Abrat" or lesson to teach a lesson to foreign forces and force them to pull out from Afghanistan.

"We would launch Abrat operation in this spring and force the foreign troops leave Afghanistan," the statement said.

It also called on Afghans to join the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (former name of Taliban hierarchy) in Jihad or holy war against the government of President Hamid Karzai and foreign troops serving in the country.

Taliban militants have issued several such statements since toppling from power by the U.S.-led Coalition forces in late 2001.

More than 8,000 people were killed in violent incidents in Afghanistan in 2007 while over 250 have lost their lives in conflicts and militancy so far this year in the war-battered country.