The US military in Afghanistan said on Saturday that a Taliban-linked militant leader wanted by Washington had been killed in Pakistan. Darim Sedgai was ambushed by unknown gunmen on January 16 and died of his wounds, the military said in a statement.The military described him as a “powerful commander” linked to a top Taliban leader, Siraj Haqqani, but did not provide any further details of the incident. The US military here reportedly announced a $50,000 bounty for Sedgai in October last year, saying he was wanted for his ties to Taliban and Al Qaeda militant groups. Sedgai was the third rebel commander in Haqqani’s network to die in recent months, the statement said.
Haqqani, the son of famous anti-Russian commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, joined the Taliban during their advance towards Kabul in 1996 and is their top commander in eastern Afghanistan. He has a 200,000 dollar bounty on his head.
Afghan and Western officials say Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked rebels have bases in the rugged Pakistani Tribal Areas along the border. Pakistani troops are battling rebels along the frontier and have launched a major operation in the tribal stronghold of an Al Qaeda-linked militant blamed for the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.