KANDAHAR, Feb 14: A Nato airstrike early on Wednesday destroyed a compound housing a Taliban leader responsible for a wave of violence across southern Afghanistan, killing the commander and at least 10 other suspected militants, the Western alliance said.

Provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi identified the Taliban leader targeted in the airstrike as Mullah Manan.

Nato said he was linked to an uprising in the town of Musa Qala, which the Taliban overran on February 1, and to an attack on Tuesday against a dam in nearby Kajaki.

Nato said it observed people removing the bodies of 11 ‘fighting-age males’ from the compound.

Other estimates of the death toll from the remote region varied widely.

Malakhail said nine people were killed, while Wali Mohammad, a Musa Qala resident, said by phone that 20 died.

Malakhail reported no civilian casualties, but Abdul Ali, a tribal elder from Musa Qala, said some family members who lived at the compound were also killed.

However, Nato said it had observed no women or children being brought out of the targeted compound.

Elsewhere in Helmand, auxiliary police protecting a poppy eradication team were hit by a roadside bomb on Tuesday that killed two policemen and wounded three, said deputy provincial police chief Eisah Mohammad.

SPRING OFFENSIVE: A purported Taliban commander has said that the militia is ready for its ‘biggest-ever’ offensive in Afghanistan this year, while a boosted Nato-led force says it also planned significant operations.

Mullah Abdul Rahim, claiming to be a Taliban commander in Helmand, told AFP on Tuesday that he had up to 10,000 men ready for action once spring arrives in March.

“We will launch a very big offensive -- the biggest ever seen -- this spring,” he said.

“Our troops are ready to go after the enemy. They are waiting for the spring (and) the leaves to appear on the trees,” he said in a telephone interview arranged by Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi. “We have between 8,000 to 10,000 armed men. They’re awaiting orders to launch the attack.”

His role in the militia and his claims could not be independently verified.

TALIBAN LEADER HELD: Afghan authorities announced on Wednesday they had captured senior Taliban commander Mullah Daud Trabi who had been the Khost province chief of the ‘vice and virtue’ police that imposed the Taliban’s moral code during their rule.

Mr Trabi was captured in Khost on Tuesday, the interior ministry said in a statement.—Agencies