o/T & FYI: Top (..Wacko Raghead..) Taliban Commander Is Killed in Clash
By TAIMOOR SHAH and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: May 13, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 13 — The Taliban’s foremost operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, was killed in a joint operation by Afghan security forces and American and NATO troops in Helmand Province, Asadullah Khaled, the governor of the neighboring Kandahar Province, said Sunday.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 13 — The Taliban’s foremost operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, was killed in a joint operation by Afghan security forces and American and NATO troops in Helmand Province, Asadullah Khaled, the governor of the neighboring Kandahar Province, said Sunday.
Mullah Dadullah’s body was displayed in this southern Afghan city on Sunday morning. The NATO force in Afghanistan confirmed his death in a statement issued in Kabul, saying that American troops led the operation.
There were various reports of the actual circumstances and day of the death.
Mullah Dadullah was one of the most wanted Taliban leaders, close to the leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, and with links Al Qaeda, he as probably the most important operational commander. While the exact number of Taliban fighters or the command structure are not known, military officials say he organized groups of fighters and obtained weapons, supplies and finances across much southern and southeastern Afghanistan.
He had been sighted in various places in the last nine months to a year, apparently moving into and out of southern Afghanistan from Pakistan border regions.
His death would cause a “significant blow to the Taliban’s command and control,” said Maj. Chris Belcher, an American military spokesman at Bagram airbase, north of Kabul, the capital. He added that Mullah Dadullah “was a military leader, primarily in charge of the effort to recapture the city of Kandahar,” once the Taliban’s stronghold and spiritual capital.
The Taliban insurgency swelled in strength and ambition in 2006 in an effort to deter NATO troops as they arrived to take over command of southern Afghanistan. Last year the Taliban made a strong effort to gain control of the city of Kandahar or at least the surrounding area. This year fighting has centered around Helmand Province, where the Taliban control almost half the territory.
In the last year, Mullah Dadullah was known to be traveling in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the Afghan border, and in particular North and South Waziristan, a Pakistan intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of intelligence work. Taliban militants and foreign Al Qaeda allies have created a virtual Taliban mini-state in that area, coordinating the insurgency and recruiting fighters.
Mullah Dadullah is also thought to be responsible for ordering numerous assassinations of clerics, government officials and health and education workers, as well as kidnappings and beheadings, including those of foreigners. I Intelligence officials said he was responsible for training and dispatching scores of suicide bombers into Afghanistan. The bombs have killed or wounded hundreds of Afghans and dozens of foreigners in the last year and a half.
He is the third member of the 10-member leadership council of the Taliban to be killed in the last six months.
Mullah Dadullah “will most certainly be replaced in time, but the insurgency has received a serious blow,” NATO said in a statement.
Governor Khaled said, “This is a huge loss for the Taliban; it will certainly weaken their activities.” He led reporters to see the body, laid on a metal hospital bed between pink sheets, on the verandah of the governor’s palace.
Mullah Dadullah, an amputee, was recognizable in part from his missing left leg and thick black beard. He was wounded in the head and left eye and his face and chest were bloodied. He wore traditional Afghan clothes.
Military officials said they were keeping information about the circumstances of his death to a minimum so as not to jeopardize continuing intelligence operations.
Mullah Dadullah was tracked by a “robust” intelligence operation and had left the sanctuary of a neighboring country just days before and entered Afghanistan, said Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for the NATO force.
Major Belcher said Mullah Dadullah was killed in Garmser district of Helmand, on the route in from Pakistan, south of the town of Lashkar Gah. Taliban fighters have moved frequently across the border, and the southern part of Helmand is a vital supply route for Taliban militants fighting in Helmand.
One official in the region, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, said the operation in which Mullah Dadullah was killed was a helicopter-borne assault by American troops who were dropped in and engaged him and his men in a firefight. The bodies were later handed over to the Afghans, he said.
Cont'd: nytimes.com
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