NATO kills top Haqqani leader in eastern Afghanistan

NATO kills top Haqqani leader in eastern Afghanistan

2011-07-01 03:05:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday informed that a top Haqqani network leader was killed in a precision airstrike in Paktiya province, eastern Afghanistan.

Ismail Jan and several Haqqani fighters were killed on Wednesday's strike in Gardez district. He was the deputy to the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan.

According to ISAF, Jan was suspected of providing material support to the recent suicide bomb attack on a hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul which killed 12 people, including a provincial judge.

On June 28, the Haqqani network, in conjunction with Taliban operatives, conducted a suicide bomb attack on the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel. Jan's location was tracked after ISAF received several intelligence reports from Afghan government officials, citizens and disenfranchised insurgents.

Jan previously served as an insurgent leader in the Khost-Gardez Pass area, along the Afghan-Pakistani border. In late 2010, he moved into Afghanistan and has since led about approximately 25 to 35 fighters in conducting attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces.

Also on Wednesday, a combined Afghan and coalition security force killed two Haqqani insurgents and detained many more in a separate security operation in Paktiya's Zurmat district.

The Afghan-led security force was searching for a Haqqani leader when they were attacked by insurgents armed with AK-47 rifles. Shortly after, the attackers retreated to the targeted compound which was subsequently isolated by coalition soldiers.

The gunfight continued on the inside of the compound resulting in the killing of two militants and the arrest of an undisclosed number of associated individuals for further questioning.

Four Afghan civilians received minor shrapnel wounds from insurgent grenades and were treated by the security force on site. Three of them were transported to a medical facility for follow-up care.

Pakistan's Afghan border, which the United States considers to be the most dangerous place on Earth, is known to be a stronghold of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network, considered one of the top terrorist organizations and threats to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani network is responsible for several high-profile attacks, including the assassination of Mohammad Jan Abdullah Wardak, former Logar provincial governor. Wardak was assassinated in a massive explosive-device attack as he left his compound in September 2008.

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