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15 Taliban killed, top
commander held
Kabul—Afghan and NATO forces killed 15 Taliban insurgents in
separate raids in southern Afghanistan, where police also captured a
senior Taliban commander, officials said Sunday.
Ten Taliban militants were killed in a joint operation by Afghan and
NATO-led forces in Zhari district of Kandahar province on Saturday,
the defence ministry said in a statement.
Another five rebels were killed in a similar operation in another
part of the district — a hotbed of Taliban activities — on Saturday,
the statement said.
In Kandahar city on Saturday, police arrested Taliban commander
Abdul Jabar, who served as deputy to captured militant leader Mullah
Mansoor Dadullah, the interior ministry said.
The ministry described Jabar as the most senior Taliban commander
after Dadullah, who was taken into custody in Pakistan in February.
“Mullah Abdul Jabar had a significant role in terrorist activities
after Dadullah,” it said in a statement.
Kandahar, the birthplace of the Islamic Taliban movement which was
in power between 1996 and 2001, is one of the most troubled regions
in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is
intense.
The Taliban were ousted from power in an internationally-backed
US-led invasion in late 2001. The remnants of the Islamic militia
have since waged a bloody insurgency, which was in its deadliest
phase last year.—AFP
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