More than 60 suspected Taliban killed
More than 60 suspected insurgents, including three regional commanders, were killed by airstrikes on two Taliban compounds in Afghanistan today.
The airstrikes in volatile Kandahar province were carried out at 3am local time in Zhari district, and many other suspected Taliban were wounded, said Kandahar police chief Esmatullah Alizai.
Alizai said Nato forces carried out the airstrikes, but Nato’s International Security Assistance Force did not immediately have any details. The US-led coalition said it was not their operation.
Alizai said the airstrikes were based on “good information”. He identified the regional commanders killed as Mullah Abdul Hakim, Mullah Abdul Manan and Mullah Zarif, and said bodies were still being removed from under the mud and rubble of the bombed compounds.
The latest violence comes days after the Taliban’s top military commander Mullah Dadullah was killed in southern Afghanistan during a US-led operation that also involved Nato and Afghan troops.
Dadullah was killed in the Sangin area of Helmand province, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks.
Airstrikes last week near Sangin killed between 20 and 40 civilians, according to Afghan officials and villagers, the latest in a series of operations marred by civilian deaths that has weakened support for international forces.
