Taliban earns 1,600 pound bounty for each NATO soldier killed

Washington, May 23(ANI): Taliban rebels are reportedly earning a bounty of up to 1,660 pounds for each NATO soldier they kill.

According to insurgent commanders, the money comes from protection rackets, taxes imposed on opium farmers, donors in the Gulf states who channel money through Dubai and from the senior Taliban leadership in Pakistan.

They said the bounty had more than doubled since the beginning of last year.

"We can't lie to our commanders: they can check to see if there was a fight in that area. We get money if we capture equipment too. A gun can fetch 690 pounds," The Times Online quoted a commander from Khost province, as saying.

"It's a lot of money for us. We don't care if we kill foreigners: their blood allows us to feed our families and the more we kill, the more we weaken them. Of course we are going to celebrate this," another commander added.

So far 213 NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including 41 British troops, bringing the potential rewards for the Taliban to 350,000 pounds. (ANI)