US-led coalition forces killed more than 10 Taliban
militants and detained two in operations targeting two rebel commanders in
eastern Afghanistan,
officials said Friday.
The militants were killed Thursday in a raid against a
Taliban sub commander in the Tag Aab district of the north-eastern province of Kapisa,
the US
military said in a statement.
"Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups
of armed militants as they entered a compound," it said, adding, "The
force returned fire, killing the militants."
The statement did not say if the targeted commander who was wanted for
facilitating the movement of foreign fighters into Afghanistan and planning and
coordinating roadside bombings in the area was also killed in the firefight.
The two militants were detained in the Nader Shah Kot district in the
south-eastern province
of Khost in an operation
against the Haqqani network.
Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran mujahideen leader who fought against Soviet
troops in the 1980s, and his son Sarajuddin Haqqani lead the Haqqani network, a
group associated with the Taliban, Afghanistan's former Islamic
fundamentalist rulers who were ousted in the 2001 US-led invasion.
The Haqqani group, which mainly operates in the southeastern region of the
country along the border with Pakistan,
reportedly has good relations with Arab members of al-Qaeda and is accused of
conducting attacks against Afghan government and international forces.
Meanwhile, a coalition soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan, said a separate US
military statement issued late Thursday.
The statement did not disclose the nationality of the deceased soldier, citing
the policy of the alliance that does not reveal nationalities until next-of-kin
notification is complete.
Most of the soldiers deployed in eastern Afghanistan
are from the United States.
Around 4,000 people - mostly insurgents, but including more than 190
international soldiers - have been killed in the Afghan conflict so far this
year.
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