16 fighters under Afghan warlord killed in airstrikes
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
KABUL, OCT 8 (AP): Airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan killed 16 militants fighting under a wanted Uzbek warlord with US$200,000 bounty on his head, while a suicide attack against a NATO convoy left two civilians wounded, officials said Monday. US forces early Sunday called in the strikes against fighters of Tahir Yuldash, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and an al-Qaida operational commander, said Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, the provincial police chief of Paktika province.
The US military late last month released a list of 12 Most Wanted militants in Afghanistan, and Yuldash was one of five listed with the top reward of US$200,000.
Mullahkhail said one enemy fighter - an Uzbek - was captured during the fighting in the Sorobi district of Paktika and said that the militants from Uzbekistan and Chechnya were fighting under Yuldash.
The US military late last month released a list of 12 Most Wanted militants in Afghanistan, and Yuldash was one of five listed with the top reward of US$200,000.
Mullahkhail said one enemy fighter - an Uzbek - was captured during the fighting in the Sorobi district of Paktika and said that the militants from Uzbekistan and Chechnya were fighting under Yuldash.