KABUL, Dec 23: Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a top Taliban commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, was killed in an airstrike this week close to the Afghan border with Pakistan, the US military said on Saturday.

A Taliban spokesman denied the claim.

Mullah Osmani was killed on Tuesday by a US airstrike while travelling in a vehicle in a deserted area in Helmand, the US military said. Two associates also were killed, it said.

Mullah Osmani, regarded as one of three top associates of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, is the highest-ranking Taliban leader the coalition has claimed to have killed or captured since US forces invaded Afghanistan.

US military spokesman Col Tom Collins described Mullah Osmani’s death as a “big loss” for the militia.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, denied that Mullah Osmani had been killed, saying the airstrike instead killed Mullah Abdul Zahir, a group commander, and three other Taliban fighters.—AP