 KABUL -The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said it had killed four-suspected Al Qaeda and detained three others during a raid on Monday aimed at a senior member of the terror network in eastern Afghanistan. A provincial governor said the four men killed in the early morning operation in Khost province were an Afghan religious leader or mullah and three Arabs. | Nailed a Holy Man, did they? |
The coalition said it was not sure if the targeted man, whose name and nationality were not revealed, was among those killed or was among three others captured in the operation in a village 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Pakistan border.
“Coalition forces killed four suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, detained three suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists...,” it said in a statement that gave few details.
The coalition forces said they also destroyed a weapons cache in the operation in Pelan Kheyl village, Bak district. “The purpose of this operation was to capture or kill an Al-Qaeda operational leader who is a significant threat to Afghan and coalition forces in the Khost province,” the statement said. The dead men were a local Afghan mullah and three Arab men, provincial governor provincial governor Sarajuding Patan told AFP. “The coalition patrol in the area came under attack from this house and when the coalition forces returned fire, they killed the mullah and three Arabs,” he said. | I love a story with a happy ending |
“Three brothers of the mullah were arrested by coalition forces,” Patan said.
The governor said the Arabs were buried soon after the incident, apparently in a bid to hide their nationality. He did not say how it was known they were Arabs. | Holier than thou attitude, un-fired AK, curly-toed track shoes... |
| ... unwilling to lift anything heavier than their wallets ... |
The mullah, Mawlavi Zainul Abidine, was well-known in the area, villager Gul Mohammad told AFP.
“A nephew of the mullah had died a number of days ago. People were visiting the mullah to offer condolences and prayers. The three killed with him might be his guests who stayed over,” Mohammad said. Al-Qaeda militants are believed to be fighting alongside the Taleban movement in Afghanistan in a growing insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai. |