ahlam1399
08-31-2016, 04:53 AM
Spokesman of Paktia gover**r says 120 militants killed in Jani Khel
air strikes; Taliban deny report
GARDEZ, Afghanistan: US air strikes in Afghanistan killed four commanders of the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban, as government forces try to retake a district captured by insurgents last week, Afghan officials said on Tuesday.
Naqeeb Ahmad Atal, a spokesman for the gover**r of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, said 120 militants were also killed in the strikes in Jani Khel, a strategically located district at a crossroads on a major route into Pakistan.
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the report as baseless, saying the air strikes had killed only eight people. He said 48 members of the security forces had been killed in fighting in the district.
Insurgents overran the centre of Jani Khil late on Friday, a significant success after they had stepped up attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks. Afghan army spokesman Fazlkhuda Ibrahimkhil said US drones carried out Monday’s air strikes, hitting fighters gathered in the town.
Colonel Michael Lawhorn, director of public affairs for Afghanistan’s Nato-led mission, confirmed that US forces had carried out attacks in support of Afghan forces on Monday. He declined to provide details while the fighting was going on. “I can confirm that US forces conducted four air strikes,” he said in an emailed statement. A**ther Afghan official said several military vehicles captured by the insurgents were also destroyed.
One senior Afghan security official, who spoke on condition of a**nymity because he was **t authorised to talk to the media, said about 1,200 fighters, most from the Haqqani network, were involved in last week’s attack on Jani Khil. The involvement of Haqqani fighters, whose traditional stronghold has been in eastern Afghanistan, underscores the group’s important role in Taliban military operations following the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US air strike in May.
One of the commanders killed in the air strike had been district chief in Jani Khil for the Taliban. A**ther came from the Waziristan region on the Pakistani side of the border and was suspected of involvement in the killing of 42 construction workers in Jani Khil four years ago, Atal said.
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air strikes; Taliban deny report
GARDEZ, Afghanistan: US air strikes in Afghanistan killed four commanders of the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban, as government forces try to retake a district captured by insurgents last week, Afghan officials said on Tuesday.
Naqeeb Ahmad Atal, a spokesman for the gover**r of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, said 120 militants were also killed in the strikes in Jani Khel, a strategically located district at a crossroads on a major route into Pakistan.
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the report as baseless, saying the air strikes had killed only eight people. He said 48 members of the security forces had been killed in fighting in the district.
Insurgents overran the centre of Jani Khil late on Friday, a significant success after they had stepped up attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks. Afghan army spokesman Fazlkhuda Ibrahimkhil said US drones carried out Monday’s air strikes, hitting fighters gathered in the town.
Colonel Michael Lawhorn, director of public affairs for Afghanistan’s Nato-led mission, confirmed that US forces had carried out attacks in support of Afghan forces on Monday. He declined to provide details while the fighting was going on. “I can confirm that US forces conducted four air strikes,” he said in an emailed statement. A**ther Afghan official said several military vehicles captured by the insurgents were also destroyed.
One senior Afghan security official, who spoke on condition of a**nymity because he was **t authorised to talk to the media, said about 1,200 fighters, most from the Haqqani network, were involved in last week’s attack on Jani Khil. The involvement of Haqqani fighters, whose traditional stronghold has been in eastern Afghanistan, underscores the group’s important role in Taliban military operations following the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US air strike in May.
One of the commanders killed in the air strike had been district chief in Jani Khil for the Taliban. A**ther came from the Waziristan region on the Pakistani side of the border and was suspected of involvement in the killing of 42 construction workers in Jani Khil four years ago, Atal said.
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