Posted on 09/04/2007 10:07:05 AM PDT by Dog
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Security forces killed a Taliban commander involved in the July kidnapping of 23 South Koreans, officials said Tuesday, as around 40 other rebels were reported killed in fresh fighting.
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The commander, Mullah Mateen, and 15 other insurgents died in an Afghan and US-led coalition operation that started late Monday in the central province of Ghazni and lasted several hours, they said.
Mateen was a "key person" in the abduction of the group of Christian aid workers, two of whom were killed before the remainder were freed late last week, Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.
"We are sure that Mullah Mateen is dead and I'm sure and everyone knows that he was behind the kidnapping of the South Koreans," he told AFP.
The operation took place in the Qarabagh district, where the group was captured while travelling by bus. The area is about 180 kilometres (120 miles) south of Kabul.
The interior ministry in the capital confirmed that Mateen was dead and had been involved in the abductions.
He was a "key person behind the kidnapping of the Koreans," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.
The US-led coalition, which is supporting the Afghan security forces, said only that "several" insurgents were killed in Ghazni overnight.
"The forces suspected Taliban militants were hiding in an area of Qarabagh district," it said in a statement.
The forces had gone there and were attacked. The return fire resulted "in the death of several militants who were armed and wearing ammunition vests."
The Koreans, from a Christian church, were kidnapped in mid-July by men posing as police. They were split into small groups and held in different locations.
Two men after the Afghan government refused to release Taliban prisoners.
Two female hostages were freed mid-August after the rebels began direct talks with the South Korean government which resulted in a deal that saw the remainder released last week.
Both sides said the deal included Seoul's agreement to withdraw its 210 non-combat troops in Afghanistan by year-end, as previously scheduled, and to stop trips by its missionaries to Afghanistan.
They have denied foreign media reports that a ransom was paid to the Taliban.
The last 19 aid workers returned to Seoul on Sunday amid criticism about what was seen as a reckless trip to a war-torn devoutly Islamic nation.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP Tuesday that abductions had proven to be an "effective tactic" which the rebels planned to use again.
"Through the kidnapping of the Koreans we gained worldwide media coverage," Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.
"The Kabul administration was saying that we do not exist and we are a group based outside Afghanistan. When we held face-to-face talks with the Koreans, we showed that we're here and have control over ground inside the country."
Elsewhere, two Afghans doing development work with the ministry of rural development were kidnapped Monday in the southwestern province of Nimroz, the government announced.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.
The Taliban were in government until 2001 and are now waging an insurgency against the new Western-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai.
The violence has reach a new high this year, with regular Taliban attacks such as an apparent suicide bombing in the northern city of Kunduz on Tuesday that killed two Afghan policemen.
The US-led coalition announced meanwhile that more than a dozen insurgents were killed in new clashes Monday in the southern province of Kandahar. Ten more were killed Tuesday when they tried to attack a base in Uruzgan province.
Hey Yousuf...whose your daddy.
You might want to reconsider that there, Sparky.
L
No doubt Bill Maher is weeping over this....
Just another day of great news! It's early yet, but this month is shaping up to be Sweet September...so far!
Pong
He killed the entire government???
Them Talibans is TOUGH.
Too bad the MSM also did not ‘report’ that the Taliban were fighting amongst themselves over who would get to rape the women first. The two who were released reported to their gov’t that they were repeatedly raped and that is when the S Koreans caved and paid 50,000 a person ransom for their release. I hope this ‘Mullah’ rots in hell with Mullah Dadullah and the rest.
Well, killing you morons by the boat-load is an "effective tactic" which the US-led coalition plans to use again... and again... and again...
Paying a large bribe to terrorist leader: expensive
Bugging the money: cheap
Blowing the fvqker up when he opens his moneybag: priceless.
Yeah so who gets the ransom funds?
But alas, control is such a fleeting thing...
And it's too bad they've run out of virgins. Some fellas just can't catch a break.
Now now, pipe down. You know these taliban people are principled revolutionaries with grievances against America. The abductions, rapes and murders of S Koreans are simply their way to get some media attention to their plight. It is indeed tragic that Mullah Abdullah go to Hellah died before realizing the fruits of his holy crusade.
We’ve been waiting until the hostages were safe...then went and killed the bad guys.
Whack-A-Mullah! or is it Rack&Stack-a-Mole-ah? Game on!
Very true....I am sure we had a good idea where they were, but because we are too PC to have ‘collateral damage’, ie hostages, wewaited till they were gone. The message to Mullahs fellow Jihadi’s will not be that kidnapping pays, but that it will very likely get you killed. Alas, his fellow ‘Mullahs’ ain’t bright enough to grasp the obivous and will likely find a similar fate.
Allayar said Mateen played a key role in the kidnapping, including telephone negotiations with the government in the early days of the crisis. He said another Taliban leader also wanted for the abduction, Mullah Abdullah Jan, remained at large.
Mullah Abdullah Jan...
Well, most of the Talibunnies being killed are virgins, so it is a self-supplying thing. It just means they are being sent to Paradise in lots of 73.
Oh that’s ripe. Nobody said what sex the 73 virgins were. (or did they?) Good one.
Our side must be great shooters. They always kill them, they never just wound them?
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