9 militants killed in Helmand, Kapisa violence

LASHKARGAH/MAHMOOD RAQI (Pajhwok): Nine Taliban insurgents have been killed, including a notorious commander, in central Kapisa and southern Helmand provinces, officials said on Wednesday.

In Helmand, police spokesman Abdul Salam Afghan told Pajhwok Afghan News that US forces targeted a vehicle carrying militants in Camp Khalid area of Sangin district on Tuesday.

Six militants onboard the vehicle were killed and their weapons and ammunition destroyed in the airstrike. Mullah Jabar, a notorious commander, was among the dead, said Afghan.

However, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, Taliban’s spokesman, claimed tribal elders travelling in Sangin were targeted by the US forces and rejected casualties to their fighters.

In Kapisa province, three militants were killed and a fourth wounded during a gun-battle between gunmen loyal to a former jihadi commander and Taliban militants in Tagab district on Tuesday, police said on Wednesday.

Police spokesman Mohammad Ayub Yousafzai said the injured gunman had been shifted to Kabul for treatment by police.

Taliban have so far said nothing in this regard.

sa/ma