July 17:NATO forces today claimed to have killed a known Taleban leader in the southern Helmand province.A statement issued this afternoon said that the Afghan and NATO led ISAF forces in a joint operation killed Mullah Bismillah Akhund in the Now Zad district on the 12th of this month.
It said that Mullah Akhund was responsible for supplying weapons and IEDs that have killed civilians and ISAF forces in northern Helamnd. It said Akhund was closely associated with another local Taleban leader Mullah Rahim, whose brother was also killed during this operation.
This is the second senior Taleban leader killed by NATO forces in the last week. Yesterday NATO claimed that they killed Taleban leader Mullah Mahmoud in an air strike in the Arghandab district in the neighbouring Kandahar province. Mullah Mahmoud was the self proclaimed Deputy Governor of the Kandahar province of the shadow government of the Taleban, which runs its own administration in several areas in southern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile the Afghan Defence Ministry today said that tens of militants were killed in the western Herat province. Its spokesman General Zaheer Azimi said that Afghan and ISAF forces targeted a militant cell in the Shindand district. He said four civilians including two children were also wounded in the NATO air raid. Another local official said that three houses were destroyed in the region. Courtsey AIR