NATO airstrike kills Taliban leader
Source: Agencies |
August 26, 2012, Sunday
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A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan killed a dozen militants, including a senior leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, the international military coalition said yesterday, dealing a blow to armed extremists operating on both sides of the country's porous border.
The strike in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province killed Mullah Dadullah, the self-proclaimed Taliban leader in Pakistan's Bajur tribal area that lies across the border, on Friday afternoon, coalition spokesman Major Martyn Crighton said.
Dadullah reportedly took over after Bajur's former Pakistani Taliban leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, fled to Afghanistan to avoid Pakistani army operations.
He was responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons, as well as attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, a coalition statement said yesterday. It added that Dadullah's deputy, identified only as Shakir, was also killed in the strike along with 10 other militants, and that an assessment made in conjunction with Afghan security forces determined no civilians had been killed or injured.
The airstrike was in Kunar's Shigal District, which lies about 15 kilometers from the Pakistani border, but Crighton would not say whether an unmanned drone or manned aircraft had launched the missiles. Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah and 19 others were killed in the attack. Initially, they said the strike was on Pakistani territory, but later conceded it was in Afghanistan.
Militant hideouts along the Afghan-Pakistan border have been a source of tension for both governments as well as for the coalition, with each saying the others are not doing enough to expel the various pro-Taliban factions.
The Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday's coalition airstrike occurred after a cross-border attack by Pakistani Taliban militants who came from Afghanistan.
Jahangir Azam Khattak, a local Pakistani government official, said dozens of militants attacked a Pakistani post manned by anti-Taliban militiamen in the Salarzai area of Bajur. He said six militants were killed and four tribesmen were wounded.
But Crighton said there was no coordination between Pakistani and coalition military leaders on the airstrike.
The strike in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province killed Mullah Dadullah, the self-proclaimed Taliban leader in Pakistan's Bajur tribal area that lies across the border, on Friday afternoon, coalition spokesman Major Martyn Crighton said.
Dadullah reportedly took over after Bajur's former Pakistani Taliban leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, fled to Afghanistan to avoid Pakistani army operations.
He was responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons, as well as attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, a coalition statement said yesterday. It added that Dadullah's deputy, identified only as Shakir, was also killed in the strike along with 10 other militants, and that an assessment made in conjunction with Afghan security forces determined no civilians had been killed or injured.
The airstrike was in Kunar's Shigal District, which lies about 15 kilometers from the Pakistani border, but Crighton would not say whether an unmanned drone or manned aircraft had launched the missiles. Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah and 19 others were killed in the attack. Initially, they said the strike was on Pakistani territory, but later conceded it was in Afghanistan.
Militant hideouts along the Afghan-Pakistan border have been a source of tension for both governments as well as for the coalition, with each saying the others are not doing enough to expel the various pro-Taliban factions.
The Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday's coalition airstrike occurred after a cross-border attack by Pakistani Taliban militants who came from Afghanistan.
Jahangir Azam Khattak, a local Pakistani government official, said dozens of militants attacked a Pakistani post manned by anti-Taliban militiamen in the Salarzai area of Bajur. He said six militants were killed and four tribesmen were wounded.
But Crighton said there was no coordination between Pakistani and coalition military leaders on the airstrike.
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