demorat kennyboy skips this news????: washingtonpost.com U.S. Strike Kills Afghan Taliban Leader
By JASON STRAZIUSO
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 23, 2006; 11:30 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Saturday. A Taliban spokesman denied the claim.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed Tuesday by a U.S. airstrike while traveling by vehicle in a deserted area in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said. Two associates also were killed, it said.
The whereabouts of Omar, the Taliban's reclusive leader who has a $10 million reward on his head, remain a mystery.
Collins said Osmani was part of a group of "co-equals" at the top of the Taliban leadership chain just under Omar and was also in charge of the Taliban's finances.
Collins said Osmani had been "utilizing both sides" of the Afghan-Pakistan border, and that the U.S. military had been tracking him "for a while."
"When the time was right, and we thought we had a good chance of hitting him without causing any harm to civilians, we struck," he said.
Although the U.S. said Osmani was an associate of bin Laden, Omar and Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Collins said he did not know the last time Osmani had contact with any of the three.
During the Taliban regime, Osmani was the corps commander of Kandahar, the militia's seat of power.
More recently, he was regarded as one of the top three Taliban leaders under Omar, along with another senior military commander in the south and southeastern regions, Mullah Dadullah, and influential policy-maker Mullah Obaidullah.
In June, a man claiming to be Osmani _ his face was concealed by a black turban _ gave an interview to a Pakistani television network in which he said Omar and bin Laden were alive and well. He claimed to be receiving instructions from Omar.
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Associated Press reporter Matthew Pennington in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report. |
