Taliban commander killed in Kandahar

An Afghan Taliban commander was killed in the southern province of Kandahar during an ambush by armed members of the opposition National Front.

“The NRF gunmen set up an ambush at dawn targeting Taliban leaders in Kandahar province, Maulawi Abdul Haseeb”, the group said in a statement posted on its media outlets. Two of its members were seriously wounded in the attack, the group said.

According to the statement, the NRF gunmen were able to seize Kalashnikovs during the attack on a Taliban patrol in Kandahar.

Clashes broke out with gunmen from the National Resistance Front (NRF) in the Andarab Valley of northern Baghlan province, Afghanistan’s independent newspaper The Eight in the Morning reported on its website.

“The Taliban launched an attack at dawn on a NRF military barracks in Andarab area, followed by clashes in which five Taliban elements and one NRF fighter were killed,” the newspaper quoted informed local sources as saying.

“His forces managed to break enemy lines and kill more than 10 Taliban”, said Nebrad Rahmatullah in Andarab, commander of the National Front. “Our resistance is high, and the battle continues with fierce intensity”.

The Andarab Valley region, some 100 kilometers north of Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, has been the site of fierce battles between the Taliban and opposition groups who have controlled Afghanistan since last August.