Share this story!            

Afghan militant toll nears 200

KANDHAR: A “very important” Taliban commander was captured during two days of fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan that has left nearly 200 rebels dead, officials said Friday.

The identity of the man caught in Kandahar province could not be released on security grounds, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said, after reports he was Mullah Dadullah, credited as one of the masterminds of the Taliban insurgency launched nearly five years ago.

The man was badly wounded in a battle in Kandahar’s Panjwayi fought by Taliban rebels who had come from across Afghanistan, Khalid told reporters. Around 100 were killed, he said, upping a previous figure of 18.

The US-led coalition helping to fight Taliban rebels announced meanwhile that 60 “enemy” were killed in a separate battle on Wednesday in neighbouring Helmand province. Afghan officials had said about 40 were killed.

The new tolls took past 190 the number of insurgents killed in two days of clashes between security forces and Taliban rebels in some of the heaviest fighting since the regime was toppled in 2001 by a US-led invasion.

More than 25 Afghan security forces and civilians were also killed in the violence, which included two suicide blasts Thursday that counted a US citizen and an Afghan national among their victims.

The battle in Panjwayi erupted Wednesday when Afghan security forces went to the area on information that Taliban had massed there. The fighting raged into Thursday and was supported by coalition artillery and planes. A Canadian soldier was killed, becoming the first Canadian woman to die in combat since World War II, according to the country’s military.

Six policemen, three Afghan soldiers and three civilians also died in the fighting, Khalid told reporters. “We captured a very important Taliban member but due to security reasons we cannot reveal his identity,” Khalid added. A top military official said earlier the captured man may be the one-legged Dadullah, who is close to the fugitive leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, and has announced he has links with Al-Qaeda.

Besides the battles in Kandahar and Helmand, security forces and Taliban clashed in northern Kandahar and in southern Ghazni province.

A suicide bomb struck Ghazni city Thursday, killing a civilian, and another exploded in western Herat city the same day, killed a US national helping to train the police force. The Taliban claimed both blasts. AFP

Home | National

Share this story!