Ex-Taliban minister dies in raid-Afghan governor

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 17 (Reuters) The former religious police minister in the ousted Taliban government has been killed in a NATO air strike in southern Afghanistan, a senior provincial official has said.

Taliban sources confirmed the raid but said the man, Abdul Wali, the radical Islamic movement's one-time minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, was not killed.

Wali along with 30 other militants, was killed three days ago in the NATO raid in Panjwai district of Kandahar, Kandahar governor Assadullah Khalid said yesterday.

''We have credible information that Abdul Wali has been killed in the operation,'' Khalid told a news conference in Kandahar.

Authorities have not recovered Wali's body, he added.

Several Taliban sources in Kandahar said 13 militants died in the attack, but added Wali was not one. NATO said it was not aware of Wali's reported killing.

Reports by provincial officials are not always accurate.

The Taliban are mostly active in southern and eastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan which they use as a haven.

Close to 4,000 people have died in fighting this year, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

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