Posted on 12/24/2006 6:23:05 PM PST by Dog
THE Taliban commander in charge of attacks on British and Nato forces in southern Afghanistan was reported yesterday to have been killed in a US airstrike after an RAF aircraft intercepted his satellite telephone. Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, the Taliban treasurer, was the most senior member of the group’s leadership to die in the war on terror, according to US officials.
A Taliban spokesman, however, said he was still alive.
Osmani, an associate of Osama Bin Laden, is said to have been part of a triumvirate with Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban military commander, and Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader. Osmani headed Taliban operations in six provinces.
Military souces said he had been killed by a strike on his vehicle as he and his aides left a village in the Zahre area. An RAF R1 monitoring aircraft is believed to have been tracking him. The aircraft was working with a US special operations team, including members of Delta Force, plus intelligence specialists from a unit known as Task Force Orange who tracked him on the ground.
The satellite telephone signal allowed the RAF aircraft to pinpoint Osmani’s location. As he headed out of the village in a 4x4, a US plane dropped a smart bomb onto the vehicle.
The Taliban issued an immediate denial, saying the bomb had killed Mullah Abdul Zahir, a district commander, and three of his men.
Al-Qaeda sympathisers are being encouraged to attack targets in London over Christmas, according to reports on ABC television in America that claimed six “active” plots were being monitored. It added that “precursor chemicals” for bombs had been seized during raids. Scotland Yard declined to comment.
Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.....Merry Christmas y'all!!!
oh yeah lets tell them exactly how they are being tracked
so cool
wtf
May we continue to be blessed with such stupid enemies...the nitwit was using a sat phone.
Any terrorist knows you don't use a sat phone....
They tracked his phone? This sounds like a violation of his human rights. Nancy Pileoshi is going to have a fit.
Uh huh....and this is exactly why Osama Bin Ladin went back to using runners....the darn MEDIA announcing how we had tracked his cell phone calls!!
What is wrong with the media???
satellite telephone signal allowed
?
Nothing like tipping the rest of them off.
Can you hear me now?
I would like to see a few of these guys captured alive and whatever useful information they may have be extracted inorder to stop future terror att.......
Oh yeah, the Dhimicrats are in power now, he would have to be given a lawyer, a foot massage and....
Let's just kill him.
doh
(to Osmani) Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. And a Happy New Year!
Aw c'mon they know. They know the cell phones are being tracked. Every time they use it they take the chance a Hellfire will arrive within 10 min. He was unlucky this time and we scored one for the home team.
We're likely the suckers on this one...I'll wait for a DNA confirmation. It's pretty damned easy (and sorta scary, when ya think about it) to stick a diversionary satellite phone just about anyplace...a phone's pretty innocuous.
Ee's mearly pining for the fjords!
great minds think alike..
They hate George Bush because they thought he was a conservative and he is a Christian. If this had been clinton's war they'd be behind it 100%. All muslims would have been deported by now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.