Senior Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080722/wl_nm/afghan_violence_dc;_ylt=AmXzDjjqy0
zWWYqqnjygGYys0NUE
KABUL (Reuters) - A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan
surrendered to Pakistani authorities and British forces killed another
leader, dealing a "shattering blow" to the militant group's leadership, the
British army said on Tuesday.
Mullah Rahim, the top commander for southern Helmand province, gave himself
up after British forces had killed two other Taliban leaders in little over
three weeks.
Hours after his surrender, another senior Taliban commander, Abdul Rasaq,
also known as "Mullah Sheikh," was killed in a British missile strike 15 km
(9 miles) north of the town of Musa Qala in Helmand on Monday morning, the
British army said in a statement. Three other insurgents also died.
Rasaq headed Taliban actions around Musa Qala and was active in the
insurgency for a number of years, it said.
"The Taliban's senior leadership structure has suffered a shattering blow,"
British army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robin Matthews said in the
statement.
Musa Qala town holds a symbolic importance after Taliban fighters forced
British troops out of the dusty opium-trading centre in late 2006. The
Taliban then seized it in February last year making it the only town of any
size held by the rebels.
Afghan, British and U.S. forces took back Musa Qala in an offensive in
December but Taliban insurgents are still active around the town.
Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces backed by airpower killed or
wounded more than 30 Taliban insurgents in fighting in the west of
Afghanistan, a senior police official said on Tuesday.
Fighting broke out in the Bala Boluk district of Farah province on Tuesday,
regional police chief Ikramuddin Yawar said.
"The toll might be more than 30 because the operation is ongoing," Yawar
told Reuters.
SUICIDE ATTACK
A U.S.-led convoy was hit by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades
on Tuesday morning in Bala Boluk, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Air strikes were called in but no munitions were dropped. The U.S. military
could not confirm if any Taliban were killed dead. International forces do
not usually give casualty figures for insurgents.
In the capital, Kabul, a Taliban suicide bomber wounded five civilians when
he blew himself up as he was challenged by police on Tuesday, the Interior
Ministry said.
Taliban militants have launched some 100 suicide attacks so far this year,
mostly targeting Afghan and international security forces but as many as 80
percent of their victims are civilians, security experts say.
The bomber struck in the morning in the Gozargah area of the capital, next
to the walls of the historic tomb of Babur, the 16th century founder of
India's Mughal dynasty. Only a leg of the bomber remained, lying on the
ground, Reuters witnesses said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Yousuf Azimy and Sharafuddin
Sharafyar; Writing by Jon Hemming and Jonathon Burch; Editing by Angus
MacSwan)
(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
