Afghan and US-led foreign forces have killed 27 Taliban fighters in the latest clashes in the worst violence Afghanistan has seen since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, an army commander said today.
General Rahmatullah Raufi, a government army commander in the Afghan south, said a brother-in-law of fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar was likely among those killed in the fighting on yesterday in the country's south.
"Most probably, Amanullah, the brother-in-law of Mullah Omar, who was also keeping his finances, was also killed," Gen Raufi said today.
He said 15 Taliban fighters were killed in the clashes in Deh Rawood district in the southern province of Uruzgan, while 12 militants were killed in an airstrike by US-led forces in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province.
A spokesman for US-led forces said they were checking the reports.
In a separate incident, two civilians were killed and six wounded in a roadside bomb explosion on Monday on the outskirts of Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia province, provincial police chief Abdul Annan Raufi said.
Yesterday, a British soldier was killed and two were wounded in a clash with the Taliban in Helmand province.