Rebel commanders among 9 dead in airstrike

SHIBERGHAN (PAN-led forces in northern Jawzjan province, an official said on Tuesday.

The rebel commanders were identified as Damullah, Hashmatullah, Mullah Sharif and Qari Shamsul Haq, Deputy Governor Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The dead included a fighter Ahmadullah and his four family members, he said, adding the airstrike targeted the house of Ahmadullah in Tash village of Drzab district at about 2:00pm

The strike was a part of a week-long operation underway in Qush Tipa and Drzab districts by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the official said.

The fighter lost his two brothers and wife in the attack, said Sakhi Dad, a resident of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News.  Two other insurgent commanders were killed in Qush Tepa during the operation three days ago.

Elsewhere, a woman, a child and an Afghan soldier were killed as a result of a clash between insurgents and security forces in central Kapisa province on Tuesday, an official said.

The clash took place in Ali Shahkhel village of Alasai district after a group of insurgents attacked a joint patrol of Afghan and foreign troops, the district chief, Mullah Mohammad, said.

He said the attackers were laced with heavy and light weapons that resulted in civilian deaths. However, he did not say if militants had suffered any casualties.

A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that their fighters had killed three Afghan soldiers in the attack.

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