International - Globescan   

Taliban leader killed

KABUL: NATO-led forces killed a senior Taliban leader with a precision air strike near a southern Afghan town overrun by militants, a spokesman for the alliance said on Sunday. Col. Tom Collins said the air strike near Musa Qala on Sunday morning killed a senior Taliban leader riding in a car. Musa Qala on Thursday was overrun by an estimated 200 Taliban fighters who disarmed local police, ransacked the district centre and hoisted their trademark white flag. The town had been subject to a peace deal brokered last October between village elders and the Helmand provincial government that prevented NATO, Afghan and Taliban fighters from coming within 5 km of the town centre. Col. Collins said the Taliban leader was killed within that 5 km zone with the approval of the Afghan Government. Col. Collins didn't immediately name the person killed in the strike, but Mohammad Wali, a Musa Qala resident, said the air strike killed a Taliban leader named Mullah Abdul Gafoor and some of his associates.

— AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Moves to oust Blair gather pace
Floods kill 20 in Jakarta
Pakistan ponders emergency option
Syria denies abetting Iraq militancy
Top Bangladesh leaders held
500 MW project with NTPC collaboration in Sampur
Unrest in Nepal worsens
Taliban leader killed
Sunita ventures out for another space walk
Pakistan to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu