Afghan and US-led troops have detained six militants including a commander “directly” involved in the preparation of suicide attacks in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition military said yesterday.
Mohammad Ghanam and five other militants were captured during a raid by Afghan and US-led troops in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, the force said in a statement.
“Mohammad Ghanam, 33, was one of two militants who were the focus of the operation. He was directly involved in the preparation of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices,” it said.
The militant leader “has conducted attacks against coalition bases throughout Afghanistan,” it said, without providing details.
Ghanam was part of the Haqqani network, the statement said, referring to a group headed by key Taliban-linked militant leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, part of an insurgency against government and foreign forces in the country.
Bomb-filled jackets and other ammunition were also found in the compounds where the men were caught, the statement said, adding that troops destroyed the weapons at the site.
Khost, a restive region on the Pakistani border, has experienced increased suicide bombings in recent months, including a March 3 car bombing that rammed a joint Afghan and US base, killing two US troops and two Afghan workers.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack
Taliban militants stormed a police post in the southern province of Kandahar overnight, killing at least 11 policemen, a police official said yesterday.
The attack in Arghandab district was the latest in a string of violent incidents blamed on the Taliban.
“One of our police posts was attacked in Arghandab last night. At this point I can confirm that 11 policemen have been killed,” deputy provincial police chief Amanuallah Khan said.
Police vehicles and weapons were also seized by the attackers, Khan said, blaming the raid on the “enemies of Afghanistan” — a term Afghan authorities use to refer to the Taliban.
Kandahar Province is one of the worst hit regions in an insurgency led by the hardline militia since their ouster. The attack comes two days after Taliban rebels targeted counter-narcotics police as they destroyed an opium poppy field, killing four officers.
The Taliban, ousted from power in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001, are waging a growing insurgency and violence has spiked since early last year.
More than 8,000 people, including 1,500 civilians and nearly 220 foreign troops, were slain in the conflict last year, a UN report said.
More than 70,000 international troops are in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency and help the war-torn country rebuild.
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