Taliban commander, ex-jihadi leader killed

HERAT CITY/KUNDUZ CITY (PAN leader have respectively been killed in western Herat and northern Badakhshan provinces, officials said on Friday.

The Taliban commander known as Sheikh was found dead in the Guzra district of Herat, a security official said, wishing anonymity.

He said Sheikh had been seized by another Taliban commander Abdullah Akbari with whom he had differences.

A resident of the area, Abdullah Alokozai, who participated in the funeral prayers for Sheikh, claimed the commander had been killed by Akbari, the son of Ghulam Yahiya Akbari.

Sheikh printed a journal during the Taliban regime. The Taliban have so far said nothing about his murder.

Ghulam Yahiya Akbari was a Taliban commander in Herat. He was killed along with his son and 23 fighters during a NATO airstrike in 2009. Later, a second son of Akbari was killed during an ambush by Afghan forces.

In Badakhshan, a former jihadi leader was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Juram district, the governor’s spokesman, Abdul Maroof Rasikh, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Suspecting an old enmity behind the assassination, the official said the attackers had escaped and a search was ongoing to arrest them.

A resident, who did not want to be identified, said guards of the ex-jihadi also shot dead two persons, a claim local officials dismissed.

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