Free Republic

A Taliban commander thought responsible for the kidnapping of an Italian journalist last March has been killed in an attack in southwestern Afghanistan, military officials say. Mullah Ikhalas has been identified as one of the militants killed in a Dec. 2 strike in the Musa Qaleh district of Helmand province, according to a news release issued by Combined Joint Task Force-82. Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a journalist with La Repubblica newspaper, was kidnapped March 5 but released two weeks later after the Afghan government admitted making a deal with his Taliban abductors. Italian news reports said he was freed after five Taliban...

KANDAHAR CITY, May 3 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Important Taliban commanders were among more than 130 people killed in a recent counter-insurgency operation in the western Herat province, insiders confided to Pajhwok Afghan News on Thursday. A key commander released recently along with four others in exchange for Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo died in the Zerkoh raid, which also left over 50 civilians dead, touched off furious protests and prompted President Hamid Karzai to warn foreign troops against collateral damage. The much-criticised prisoner swap resulted in the release of Ustad Yasir, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, Mansoor Ahmad, Hamdullah and Mullah Ghaffar....