GHAZNI, Sept 15: Afghan and US-led troops on Friday raided the hideout of a Taliban commander linked to the July abduction of 23 South Koreans, killing six militants, police said.
Taliban commander Abdullah Jan, however, escaped the raid in Ghazni, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.
The US-led coalition confirmed there had been an operation but said only that “several suspected militants” had been killed and one arrested.
“Abdullah Jan fled the raid but six of his associates were killed and an unknown number were detained by the coalition forces,” Mr Ahmadzai said.
The bodies of three of the dead were left at the site, he said.
The coalition said one person was detained in the operation in the Qarabagh district, where the South Korean aid workers were abducted on July 19.
Two of the hostages were shot dead. The surviving 21 Koreans were freed last month.
“Afghan and coalition forces were led by credible intelligence to Qarabagh district where they suspected Taliban-affiliated militants were hiding,” a coalition statement said.
Earlier this month, Afghan and coalition troops killed another of the commanders said by officials to be linked to the kidnapping.
Mr Ahmadzai said separately that Taliban militants had killed a man in Qarabagh district after accusing him of spying for the Americans.
The coalition also announced that several more suspected rebels were killed on Friday in the southern province of Helmand.
Two others were detained in the operation that targeted compounds in the Garmser district believed to be the home of a “weapons facilitator,” a separate statement said.
A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in Khost on Friday, killing or wounding all five policemen inside. Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
