Taliban’s district chief among 9 detained

GHAZNI CITY (PAN militants, including a shadow district chief, were arrested and two others killed during a military operation in southern Ghazni province, an official said on Saturday.

The operation, which was launched a week ago, was completed on Friday evening, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief for Ghazni, Syed Amir Sadat, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers backed their Afghan counterparts during the offensive that led to the capture of Taliban’s chief for Aab Band district along with three associates.

Elsewhere in the province, five other militants were detained in Qarabagh and Galan districts, the NDS director said, adding that a bomb-making expert — Adam Khan — was among the detainees. Six motorcycles, weapons and ammunitions were seized.

The detainees shown to media men acknowledged they had been held with weapons and that they were involve in the insurgency.

But Mullah Naqibullah, the so-called shadow district chief, denied being a militant leader.

Two fighters were killed and as many wounded during gunbattles with Afghan soldiers in Andar district and Ghazni City, the provincial capital.

A spokesman for the 203rd Thunder Corps, Nazif Sultani, said two militants were arrested in Qarabagh district. The soldiers suffered no casualties.

nz/mud

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