Taliban chief killed as he tries to retake town

Kandahar (Afghanistan), Feb 4: NATO forces killed a Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan today during an offensive to retake a town from the militants, residents said.

The commander, Mullah Ghafour, was killed along with an unknown number of Taliban fighters in in an air strike targetting his vehicle near Musa Qala in Helmand province, they said.

Ghafour was the Taliban commander in Musa Qala, which the Taliban seized on Thursday night after months of peace from a truce tribal elders brokered between NATO's British forces and the Taliban in the area.

The identity of the others inside the vehicle was not known.

NATO and Taliban officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The United States took over command of the 33,000 NATO-led troops today as part of a regular rotation of leadership of the force.

Reuters