Former Taliban Official Martyred in Clash with U.S. Soldiers U.S. troops face resistance during raid
JALALABAD: A former Taliban official was
martyred and three Afghans were injured when a gunfight broke out during a
raid at the official's home in eastern Afghanistan by U.S. Special Forces,
the Kunar governor representing Kabul’s puppet regime said on Sunday.
He claimed that there were no U.S. casualties. It was not immediately
possible to reach U.S. officials in Afghanistan for comment. Watapur Karmon
is 80 kilometres north-east of Jalalabad.
The US forces went to the home of Naimatullah, a former district official
of the Taliban regime, to arrest him for allegedly fighting against U.S.
troops and the local puppet regime. Naimat and his neighbours resisted,
opening fire on the US troops. Two Afghan women and one man were injured
in the resulting gunbattle, the governor said.
Naimat had jumped into a nearby river, and his body was found downstream
on Sunday, said Akbar. It was not clear if he had been shot or drowned. No
arrests were made, and the situation in the village was now calm, calaimed
Akbar.
At the weekend, suspected militants attacked European aid agencies, Agro
Action and Medair, working in eastern Afghanistan, wounding two Afghan
employees, officials said. Also on Sunday, a US-backed warlord vowed not
to give up claims to power despite puppet President Hamid Karzai's
decision to remove the governor of his home province of Paktia, the Afghan
Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
"The change of governor will not change my stand," Padsha Khan told the
Pakistan-based private Afghan news agency. Afghanistan's official Bakhtar
news agency reported on Saturday that Karzai had appointed Asadullah Wafa
to replace Raz Mohammad Dalili as the governor of the province bordering
Pakistan. No reason for the reshuffle was given.
Khan has been politically inactive in the past few months, fuelling
speculations that he had patched up differences with Kabul. On Sunday,
however, he again challenged Karzai, saying that the problem in the
troubled Paktia province could not be resolved without his taking power.
Source:
Balochistanpost |