British forces killed a Taliban leader, while another Taliban commander in the southern Afghanistan surrendered to the Pakistani authorities, the British Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. Abdul Rasaq, also known as Mullah Sheikh, a Taliban leader in southern Helmand province, was killed along with three others in a missile strike north of Musa Qala on Sunday, the ministry said. Hours earlier, Mullah Rahim, said to be a senior Taliban leader in Helmand, had given himself up to the authorities in Pakistan, it said.
In an other incident, the United States-led coalition and Afghan forces killed or wounded more than 30 Taliban during fighting in the west of Afghanistan, a senior police official said on Tuesday. Fighting broke out in the Bala Boluk district of Farah province on Tuesday, Regional Police Chief Ikramuddin Yawar said. "So far more than 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed or wounded in the operation," Yawar said, adding, "The toll might be more than 30 because the operation is ongoing." A US-led convoy was engaged with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on Tuesday morning in Bala Boluk, a military spokesman said. Air strikes were called in but no munitions were dropped and the US military could not confirm if any Taliban had been killed, he said.
In Kabul, a Taliban suicide bomber wounded five civilians when he blew himself up as police challenged him on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. The bomber struck early in the morning in the Gozargah area of Kabul, next to the walls of the historic tomb of the 16th century Mughal emperor Babur. In the central Afghan province of Ghazni, militants killed four brothers, all police officers, and captured their father in an attack on their home, the Interior Ministry said.