Australian special forces troops have killed a senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan in an operation expected to disrupt insurgent activity for some months.Mullah Noorullah and one other insurgent were tracked moving into a tunnel system in the Oruzgan area, where Australian forces are based.
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Noorullah, classed as a senior insurgent commander, was involved in the use of improvised explosive devices and rocket attacks against coalition forces. He was also understood to have been involved in the major battle with Afghan and Australian forces on April 12 in which up to four other insurgents were also killed by Australian soldiers.
The latest operation was expected to disrupt the effectiveness of insurgent activity in the Deh Rafshan region for a number of months to come, defence said.
Chief of joint operations, Lieutenant-General Mark Evans, said the counter-insurgency strategy being employed by the NATO-led coalition was having a degrading effect on Taliban leadership and their ability to conduct coherent operations. "Coalition forces are disrupting the insurgents' ability to command and control operations," he said.
The result of this constant targeting is that the Taliban are not able to readily coordinate attacks on coalition forces until replacement leaders are recruited and they can rebuild their knowledge and skills.