KABUL, April 18: Afghan soldiers on Monday killed two Taliban militants and captured three others, including a senior commander, during a gunfight which left three soldiers wounded in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said. Mullah Allah Noor was captured after he, along with dozens of his men riding motor bikes, raided a government checkpoint in Uruzgan’s Charchino district, Faiz Mohammad, the district chief, said.

“They attacked on Sunday evening — the fighting lasted until Monday late morning,” he told AFP. “We killed two of their members and captured Allah Noor.”

Mohammad said that three government soldiers were also wounded during the firefight in a mountainous pass in Charchino, a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency.

Abdullah, an aide to Uruzgan’s governor, also confirmed the clash and arrests saying: “Allah Noor is one of the Taliban commanders who has been involved in anti-government activities in Uruzgan region.”

Both officials said the captured commander was being held by government troops and would be questioned about his group’s activities in the coming days.

Southcentral Uruzgan province, of which Charchino is a part, is one of the regions worst hit by a guerilla insurgency waged by elements of the ousted Taliban militia.

Mohammad said he hoped the capture of the man would help Afghan authorities crack down on more Taliban holdouts in the province.

The Taliban were toppled by US-led forces in late 2001 after they refused to hand over Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

President Hamid Karzai has announced an arms-for-amnesty scheme for the ousted militia to help reduce violence in his war-shattered country ahead of it’s first post-Taliban parliamentary polls in September.—AFP