KUNDUZ CITY (PAN): A dreaded militant commander was eliminated in an encounter with policemen in the northeastern Kunduz province, local security officials and Taliban said here on Friday.

Mullah Janan's death represents a grievous blow to the insurgent movement, which has lost a number of senior commanders over the last couple of years in engagements with Afghan and foreign forces.

The much-feared militant was shot dead during an overnight firefight that erupted in the Chehla Mazar area, the provincial police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Ayub Salangi said police ambuscaded Mullah Janan while seeking to steal into the provincial capital along with his associates late Thursday night.

Police and intelligence operatives initially tried to catch the commander alive but he opened fire on the security personnel, Salangi added. The law-enforcers were compelled to fire in self-defence, killing the guerrilla leader, he continued.

Security men suffered no casualties in the brief clash, the police officer claimed, saying the commander's companions managed to escape in the still of the night. A resident of Kunduz, Janan's body is in police custody, according to Salangi.

In a chat with this news agency over the telephone from an undisclosed location, a Taliban spokesman confirmed the rebel's slaying. But Zabihullah Mujahid explained Janan was an ordinary fighter, not a commanded, and that he was gunned down in the Kala Gaw locality.

Contradicting Mujahid's statement, an intelligence official said Janan was a battle-hardened Taliban commander, who was complicit in almost all terrorist acts perpetrated across the northeastern region.

In a recent talk with PAN, Kunduz Governor Muhammad Omer said a 20-member group was carrying out destabilisation operations in the province. He would not name the gang involved in fuelling the violence.

In less than two years, a string of Taliban commanders including their top strategist Mullah Dadullah, Akhtar Muhammad Usmani, Mullah Sangin. Abu Abdullah Mansoor - the mastermind behind the abduction of South Koreans in Ghazni - have been killed.

Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah