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Bomb-making cell targeted in US raids in Afghanistan
A series of operations by US forces in eastern Afghanistan targeted an Al Qaida leader and a bomb-making cell, killing 19 militants, the coalition said.
- AP
- Published: 09:07 November 2, 2008
Kabul: A series of operations by US forces in eastern Afghanistan targeted an Al Qaida leader and a bomb-making cell, killing 19 militants, the coalition said.
Afghan police meanwhile said on Saturday they had investigated unconfirmed reports that civilians may have been killed and found that only militants died.
The operations took place Friday in Nangarhar and Khost provinces, volatile regions along the Pakistan border.
In the deadliest operation, the coalition said it killed 10 militants during a strike against a bomb-making cell under the command of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a fierce militant leader believed to operate out of Pakistan.
Wazir Pacha, the spokesman for Khost's provincial police chief, said a delegation of police had been sent to investigate whether civilians had been killed and had found no such evidence.
The governor of Khost, Arsallah Jamal, said it was unlikely that civilians would have been in the region where the operation took place.
In a separate operation in Nangarhar, the US-led coalition said it targeted a known Al Qaida leader believed to have helped move foreign fighters and weapons into Kunar province. The coalition said militants engaged the force with gunfire. Coalition troops returned fire and killed five militants, including an armed female, it said.
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