Kabul [Afghanistan], Sept.26 : American and Afghan forces have reportedly killed a number of senior insurgents in airstrikes - including Pakistani Talibs and al-Qaeda members.
Reports indicate that at least one senior Pakistani Taliban leader, known as Azam Tariq, is thought to have been killed in the strike, Tolo News reports.
Tariq, the former spokesperson for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed in air strikes carried out by Afghan and NATO forces in Paktika province.
The terror outfit said in Peshawar yesterday that Tariq's son and nine other militants were also killed in the operation.
Tariq, who had a 20 million rupee bounty on his head, was also known as Raess Khan.The overnight attack took place in Bermal district of the Paktika province on Saturday night which borders Pakistan.
The U.S military on Sunday confirmed to VOA it had carried out two airstrikes in the area, but refrained from discussing details for "operational security reasons." "We can confirm that U.S forces conducted two air strikes recently in Bermal district on September 24 and 25.
I can tell you that one air strike was conducted under counter terrorism authorities and the other airstrike was conducted in defense of friendly forces," it said.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense also said that security forces conducted military operations in Bermal late on Saturday, killing nine militants.
The dead included two al-Qaeda commanders, they claimed. In addition security forces seized weapons, suicide vests and communication equipment, according to the ministry.
(ANI with inputs).
Source: ANI
