Taliban mastermind of deadly Wardak attack killed

KABUL commander, who orchestrated Monday’s deadly attack on a training base in central Maidan Wardak province, has been killed along with seven comrades.

The brazen attack left 36 uprising fighters being trained by NDS personnel dead and 58 others injured at the NDS-run training facility in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Maidan Wardak province.

A statement from the NDS received by Pajhwok Afghan News said that intelligence forces killed the attack’s mastermind along with seven other insurgents during an airstrike.

It said intelligence forces would chase the terrorist network and would kill them all.

The Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack. The group had said the attack was carried out by an explosives-laden Humvee vehicle (they had captured from Afghan forces) in Bagh-i-Zanana area of Maidan Shahr city.

However, in a latest statement, the Taliban rejected the NDS claim about the killing the Maidan Wardak attack’s mastermind.

Their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in an email to Pajhwok said, “We completely reject this claim.”

He said no Taliban members had been killed and  the ‘enemy’ wanted to divert people’s attention from the casualties they suffered in the attack.

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