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Afghan police kill 3 kidnap suspects

Afghan police killed three Taliban commanders allegedly involved in the abduction of 23 South Koreans two-months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

The Interior Ministry said the police operation took place on Friday in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni Province, where the insurgents seized the 23 South Koreans on July 19.

"The commanders who were killed during this operation were directly involved in the kidnapping case of the Korean hostages," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

It did not provide any further details or the identities of the slain Taliban.

OPERATIONS

There have been several military operations in Ghazni since the release of the last captives on Aug. 30, possibly reflecting a desire by the Afghan government to assert its authority over the rebellious region following the abductions.

Another Taliban commander behind the kidnapping of the South Korean church workers, Mullah Mateen, was killed in an operation early this month.

Two of the South Korean hostages were slain.

Two women were released later during the Taliban's negotiations with South Korea, and the remaining 19 were freed after Seoul repeated a long-standing commitment to withdraw its 200 soldiers in Afghanistan by year's end and prevent Christian missionaries from traveling to Afghanistan.

More than 4,300 people -- mostly militants -- have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.

ARMS

Meanwhile, NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan have intercepted an Iranian arms shipment destined for the Taliban in what appears to be an escalating flow of weaponry between the two former enemies, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Citing unnamed officials from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, the newspaper said the shipment seized on Sept. 6 included armor-piercing bombs, which have been especially deadly when used as roadside bombs against foreign troops in Iraq.

The NATO-led force interdicted two smaller shipments of similar weapons from Iran into southern Helmand Province on April 11 and May 3, the report said.

"It's not the fact that it's qualitatively different, but this was a large shipment which got people's attention," the paper quotes a US official as saying.

This time, the arms were shipped into the western province of Farah, indicating an attempt to find routes less likely to be discovered, the Post said.

A senior Iranian official called the allegation baseless, according to the report.

"We have no interest in instability in Iraq or Afghanistan," the paper quotes the Iranian official as saying. "We have good neighborly relations with the heads of state, who have praised Iran recently. Why should we send weapons to the opposition?"

Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country, has long opposed the Taliban, a Sunni Muslim group with different ideas about society, government and religion, the report said.

But US officials say their cooperation is based on common opposition to foreign, and particularly Western, troops in Afghanistan, the Post said.
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