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BAGRAM AIR BASE, April 4: US-backed Afghan troops killed eight suspected Taliban and captured 15 others in fighting against extremists holed up in the Torghar mountains of southern Afghanistan, the US military said on Friday, while pro-government militia forces mounted a fresh offensive nearby.
“Afghan militia forces accompanied by a US Special Forces detachment cleared the areas of Torghar mountains on Friday,” Colonel Roger King told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50 kilometres north of Kabul.
“Eight enemy were killed in action and Afghan forces have taken 15 persons under control,” King said. “As far as we know they were Taliban.”
One Afghan soldier was killed and three wounded, he said, adding there were no US casualties.
With 23 extremists accounted for, King said some of the suspected Taliban may have escaped. Earlier estimates had about 40 fighters dug in on the mountains.
“There is evidence that some of the folks snuck out of the immediate area,” he said.
In a new offensive in the adjacent Haba mountains, Afghan militia forces on Thursday killed 20 suspected Taliban.
The fighting, in the Tor Ghar mountain area of Kandahar province, came to an end on Thursday evening after remaining Taliban forces escaped, Khalid Pakhtoon, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor said.
Pakhtoon said two Afghan government soldiers were killed and two wounded in the fighting before the Taliban fled.
“But we will carry on with a campaign against them.”
KARZAI’S FRIEND KILLED: A close friend of President Hamid Karzai was gunned down by suspected Taliban in southern Uruzgan province, provincial governor Jon Mohammad said on Friday.
Mullah Jailani and one of his nephews were shot dead on Thursday afternoon as they were coming out of their home in Miandaw village in Deh Rawud district, 100 kilometres north of the main southern city of Kandahar, Mohammad said.
No-one saw the killings and the attackers escaped, he said.
Jilani, who was in his 60s, sheltered Karzai when he came to Afghanistan after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks to organise anti-Taliban forces.
“When Karzai came back to Afghanistan for the first time, he was the only one who helped him,” Mohammad said.
“I personally think that it’s Taliban and Al Qaeda that are behind his murder because he was the only one who really helped Karzai and was Karzai’s personal friend.”
Mohammad was heading to Deh Rawud to seek further details on the attack.
Chief of presidential staff Tayab Jawad expressed Karzai’s sorrow over the killings.
“On behalf of Karzai, I can say he was very sorry that Mullah Jailani has been assassinated,” he said.
“He has played a very important role in freeing Afghanistan from the Taliban and he had the main role in the early days of the resistance that Karzai and his friends made against the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan,” he said.
Karzai would send a high-ranking delegation from Kandahar to attend Jilani’s burial ceremony on Saturday.—Agencies
