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QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces killed a top figure in the Taliban militia fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and captured four other militants Monday, a military official said. Mansoor Dadullah, brother of slain Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah, was among five militants caught after a shootout near a seminary in southwestern Baluchistan province around 10 a.m., a local intelligence official told The Associated Press. A senior military official said Dadullah died of his wounds while being flown to a hospital with the other four injured men. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they...

THE Taliban has swapped three hostages and a beheaded doctor for the body of its top commander killed by troops in Afghanistan last month. The extremist group said on Tuesday that it had beheaded the doctor, captured late March with three nurses and a driver, because it had not been given the body of Mullah Dadullah. "We received the body of Mullah Dadullah last night from the Kandahar government," spokesman Shahabudin Atal said. "We have released the three nurses and a driver and very soon they will be home," said Atal, spokesman for Dadullah's brother Mansoor, who has taken over...

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban will stage a "massive" operation against Western troops in Afghanistan and civilians must stay away from them in order to avoid casualties, a spokesman for the group said on Sunday. After the traditional winter lull, followed by last year's bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, the militants have stepped up their attacks in recent months against Afghan and foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military. Foreign forces have already warned civilians to avoid their military convoys in the face of rising Taliban suicide attacks against them. These attacks have resulted in...

18 minutes ago KABUL, Afghanistan - A boat crossing a river in Afghanistan's most dangerous province sank on Saturday, and at least 60 people were killed, including Taliban militants, the Defense Ministry said. The boat sank while crossing the Helmand River, which snakes through Helmand province, the world's leading opium poppy region and site of fierce battles the last several months. Hundreds of Taliban insurgents are believed to be in Helmand. The Afghan army was investigating to see how many Taliban insurgents and how many civilians were on board, the ministry said. Elsewhere, suspected Taliban militants attacked a local police...

Kabul, 15 May (AKI) - At least 60 Taliban fighters have been killed in an air strike conducted by NATO forces in southern Afghanistan on Monday night, local authorities say. According to police chief, Asmatullah Alizai, among the victims of the strike were three important Taliban leaders in the district of Jalai in the southern province of Kandahar. The air raid carried out on Monday night targeted Taliban hideouts that had been identified by some informants. The three Taliban commanders who were killed, were Mullah Abdul Hanan, Mullah Zekria and Mullah Zarif, according to Alizai.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 13 — The Taliban’s top operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in southern Afghanistan, and his body was displayed by Afghan officials in this southern city today. The commander was killed in a joint operation by Afghan security forces and American and NATO troops in Helmand Province, the governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khaled, said. News agencies reported that the Taliban was killed in fighting in the Nahri Sarraj district, a strategic area of Helmand Province that the Afghan intelligence service reported Saturday had been cleared of Taliban after an operation this week. A statement released by...

The Taliban's top operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in Afghanistan, security officials said on Sunday. The officials did not have details of where and when Dadullah was killed. "Mullah Dadullah has been killed and his body is in Kandahar," one official told Reuters.

Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's military commander in southern Afghanistan, is reported to have been surrounded by Afghan troops, sources have told Al Jazeera. About 200 Taliban are believed to be with Dadullah, one of Nato's most-wanted men, in the province of Uruzgan, a senior official in the Afghan intelligence service said. Taliban spokesmen have told Al Jazeera that heavy fighting and bombing is going on in Uruzgan province, but they said Dadullah was currently in Helmand province.

A leading Taliban commander in Afghanistan has been filmed brutally beheading eight men accused of spying for British and American forces.The horrifying video broadcast by a Pakistan television station shows Mullah Dadullah - an elusive figure thought to lead the guerilla movement in southern Afghanistan - hacking off the victims' heads and placing them on their lifeless torsos. The video is similar to those produced by al Qaeda and related militant groups who have kidnapped and then executed hostages in Iraq. The chilling images are part of a concerted attempt by the Taliban to terrify ordinary Afghans out of cooperating...

Top Taleban commander 'arrested' A top Taleban leader, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured in Afghanistan, Afghan officials have told the BBC. He has a reputation for being one of the Taleban's most brutal commanders.

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A man claiming to be Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said by telephone a report he had been captured in Afghanistan was untrue and he vowed to fight on against Afghan and foreign troops. The man telephoned a Reuters reporter late on Friday, hours after the BBC reported the capture of Dadullah, one of the Taliban's top commanders, after heavy clashes in the southern province of Kandahar. "I am Mullah Dadullah. The reports about my arrest are not only false but a pack of blatant lies," said the man, who sounded like Dadullah. ~ snip...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A top Taliban commander said more than 200 rebel fighters were willing to become suicide attackers against U.S. forces and their allies - a claim dismissed as propaganda Monday by Afghanistan's government, which said the hardline militia was weakening. In an interview late Sunday with The Associated Press, Mullah Dadullah, ruled out any reconciliation with the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and claimed the country's new parliament - its first in more than 30 years, inaugurated last week - was "obedient to America." "More than 200 Taliban have registered themselves for suicide attacks with us...