Key Taliban commander killed in Jawzjan attack

SHEBRGHAN (Pajhwok): Local officials on Monday said a key Taliban commander and his bodyguard were killed while four others wounded during an attack of Afghan forces in southwestern Jawzjan province.

On the other hand, Taliban say the people killed were not members of the insurgent group but they were civilians.

Brig. Gen. Shah Agha Shatab, deputy Jawzjan police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News that Amruddin, a Taliban group leader and his bodyguard were killed in an Afghan forces ambush in Majid Qadoq village of Khwaja Dukoh district of the province this morning.

He said that four other insurgents were injured during the attack.

Amruddin was leading a 20 member Taliban group and he planned to attack a patrol of Afghan security forces on Shebrghan-Maimana highway today, he said.

This person was headman of a village on the outskirts of Shebrghan city but he joined the Taliban three months ago and was mostly active in Dasht-i-Laili area of Khwaja Dukoh district, he added.

Shatab said that the corpses of the Taliban commander and his bodyguard along with their weapons obtained by police forces and the security situation on Maimana-Shebrghan highway was currently stable.

On the other hand, a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the killing of only two Taliban members, but he said that those killed were ordinary fighters, not commanders.

According to another report, seven Taliban militants were killed in an airstrike on Shebrghan-Mazar highway this morning.

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