Pak Taliban commander rumoured dead
Friday, 28 May 2010
KABUL, May 27 (AP): Afghan officials said Thursday they were investigating reports that a leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in fighting in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
About 400 Afghan police supported by village militias have been trying to fend off an attack by hundreds of insurgents in eastern Nuristan province for five days, provincial police spokesman Farooq Khan said.
On Thursday, the militants made a push to capture all of Barg-e-Matal district on the Pakistan border, sparking heavy fighting throughout the area.
"This morning we have unconfirmed reports that Maulana Fazlullah was killed" in the overnight fighting, Khan said.
Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" for his hard-line anti-Western broadcasts on a militant radio station in northwestern Pakistan.
About 400 Afghan police supported by village militias have been trying to fend off an attack by hundreds of insurgents in eastern Nuristan province for five days, provincial police spokesman Farooq Khan said.
On Thursday, the militants made a push to capture all of Barg-e-Matal district on the Pakistan border, sparking heavy fighting throughout the area.
"This morning we have unconfirmed reports that Maulana Fazlullah was killed" in the overnight fighting, Khan said.
Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" for his hard-line anti-Western broadcasts on a militant radio station in northwestern Pakistan.