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Taliban commander killed

August 25, 2012

Two airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan have claimed the lives of a dozen insurgents, according to officials. A top Taliban commander was among those killed.

https://p.dw.com/p/15wa1
A picture dated 02 September 2011 shows Mullah Dadullah (C), a regional commander of Pakistani Taliban group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Movement of Pakistani Taliban) talking to journalists at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area of Kunar and Bajaur tribal region.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

The attacks took place in the Shigal district of Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. A NATO spokesman told AFP news agency that each airstrike killed six people.

Local police chief Sayed Rahman said most of the militants came from neighboring Pakistan and included a leader of Pakistan's Tehrik-i Taliban.

"Commander Dadullah, the top Taliban commander in Bajaur agency of Pakistan, is also among the dead," Rahman said.

NATO later confirmed Maulawi Dadullah's death, saying the commander, also known as Jamal, was "responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons, as well as attacks against Afghan and coalition forces."

It said Dadullah's deputy, Shakir, was also killed in the same airstrike.

NATO airstrikes last week killed some 24 militants in the Chapa Dara district of Kunar as they gathered for a public execution.

Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militants both operate in the area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Some 130,000 NATO troops are stationed in Afghanistan to help fight a Taliban insurgency in the country.

tj/slk (AFP, AP)