By Xinhua,
Kabul : The U.S.-led Coalition forces on Friday killed 10 militants during an operation to disrupt the Haqqani improvised explosive device (IED) and foreign fighter network in eastern Afghan province of Paktya, said a Coalition statement released here on Saturday.
Coalition forces targeted several Haqqani leaders and foreign fighters in Zadran District, who were known to plan and conduct IED attacks, the statement said.
“During the operation, the force encountered several groups of armed militants who opened fire on them,” it said. “Coalition forces engaged the militants with precision munitions killing them and destroying a large cache of rocket propelled grenades, mines and other ordnance.”
Jalaludin Haqani, who served as a minister and chief of army staff during Taliban regime in Afghanistan, is a close aide to Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and has been leading Taliban fighters in east Afghanistan to mount pressure on Afghan government and international troops deployed there in the post-Taliban nation.
While in another incident in western Afghan province of Farah, on Afghan civilian was killed and another seriously injured by an insurgent mortar attack on a patrol of NATO troops on Friday, said a press release of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Saturday.
“The ISAF patrol was operating in Farah province, when it came under mortar attack from the insurgents, one of which landed in a bazaar in Gulistan, killing and injuring the civilians,” it said.
ISAF evacuated the injured civilian to an ISAF hospital for urgent medical treatment, it added.
Spiraling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have claimed over 5,000 people with more than 1,500 civilians so far this year in strife-torn Afghanistan while Taliban insurgents have vowed to intensify assaults against interests of Afghan government and international troops before the coming winter.