 Radio intercepts indicate two top Taliban commanders are with dozens of rebels battling in the southern mountains against a blistering barrage from Afghan and U.S. forces, senior government officials said Thursday.
"Arrrr! Yez'll never take us alive, coppers!"
"Ummm... Boss? Do we hafta?" |
The death toll from three days of fighting was reported at 114 — including 102 insurgents.
"Yeah! Got 72 virgins, each an' every one! Comely young 12-year-olds! Some of 'em's 9!"
"Uhhh... Boss? Those that ain't dead... Mahmoud ain't got no lower jaw now... An' we really gotta get a real colostomy baggie for Ahmed... An' Mustafa ain't got no legs no more..." |
Afghan officials said they had dealt the insurgency a body blow, but such claims have been made many times before in a war that refuses to wind down.
| Yeah. They're prob'ly lying. Thanks for pointing that out to us, AP... |
Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Marad said the two commanders are Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Brader, both well known names in the Taliban rebellion who are accused of orchestrating attacks across much of Afghanistan's violence-ridden south. "Afghan army officials intercepted their radio conversations" coming from a mountainous area on the border between Kandahar and Zabul provinces that has been besieged by hundreds of Afghan and U.S. troops and bombarded by attack aircraft, he said. Captured insurgents have also said during interrogations that the pair were leading the rebels' battle, Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told The Associated Press.
| "Yeah! Yeah! It wuz them! Really! Just... Just... Put the bolt cutters down, okay? I'll tell you anything you wanna know!" |
Before U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, Brader held many top jobs in the Islamic militia's hard-line regime, including being the commander in the capital, Kabul.
| And a bang-up job of it he did! |
Dadullah, who has a wooden leg, was the top general in the country's north during the Taliban regime, and he has since been accused of ordering the slaying of a Red Thingy Cross worker from El Salvador in March 2003. Mashal said three other lower-ranking Taliban commanders were among the 102 rebels killed in fighting since Tuesday. The death toll was 26 higher than Wednesday. Two of the dead were Chechens, three were Pakistanis and one appeared to be an Arab, said Gen. Salim Khan, a police commander at the battlefield.
"I dunno, Gen. Salim. What do you think?"
"That's an Arab lip if I've ever seen one!" |
Twelve Afghan policemen and soldiers have also been killed, officials said. The U.S. military has reported a lower death toll than the government. On Wednesday, the U.S. command said 49 insurgents had been killed, and spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said Thursday that there had been no update since then and referred queries to the Afghan government. Mashal said the high rebel casualty toll was the biggest blow to the Taliban in a year. "Their backbone has been broken. They will no longer be able to attack in a coordinated way," he said. About 80 rebels were still believed to be in the mountains holding out against Afghan and coalition forces, Mashal said. Others fled on horses and motorbikes toward the Pakistani border, about 120 miles away, he said.
Mashal said most of the intercepted rebel radio conversations were in Urdu, Pakistan's main language, suggesting many of the fighters were Pakistanis.
| Oh, really? Oh, I am so surprised! |
Afghan and US forces killed 132 Taliban militants and surrounded four of the Taliban's top commanders after a three-day battle, said the Afghan Defence Ministry on Thursday. The brother-in-law of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was one of the key figures under siege in a mountain hideout, said the ministry. The claim could not be independently confirmed. "One hundred and thirty two Taliban were killed in the operation in a area on the borders of Kandahar, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces," said Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Nu'man Atifie. Government forces have also ringed four Taliban commanders north of Mian Nisheen, including Mullah Brader who is related by marriage to Mullah Omar and is also said to be the militia's current deputy, said Atifie. The Taliban's usual spokesman was not immediately available to comment. |