Afghan and US-led troops have detained six militants including a commander “directly” involved in the preparation of suicide attacks in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition military said yesterday.
Mohammad Ghanam and five other militants were captured during a raid by Afghan and US-led troops in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, the force said in a statement.
“Mohammad Ghanam, 33, was one of two militants who were the focus of the operation. He was directly involved in the preparation of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices,” it said.
The militant leader “has conducted attacks against coalition bases throughout Afghanistan,” it said, without providing details.
Ghanam was part of the Haqqani network, the statement said, referring to a group headed by key Taliban-linked militant leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, part of an insurgency against government and foreign forces in the country.
Bomb-filled jackets and other ammunition were also found in the compounds where the men were caught, the statement said, adding that troops destroyed the weapons at the site.
Khost, a restive region on the Pakistani border, has experienced increased suicide bombings in recent months, including a March 3 car bombing that rammed a joint Afghan and US base, killing two US troops and two Afghan workers.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack
Taliban militants stormed a police post in the southern province of Kandahar overnight, killing at least 11 policemen, a police official said yesterday.
The attack in Arghandab district was the latest in a string of violent incidents blamed on the Taliban.
“One of our police posts was attacked in Arghandab last night. At this point I can confirm that 11 policemen have been killed,” deputy provincial police chief Amanuallah Khan said.
Police vehicles and weapons were also seized by the attackers, Khan said, blaming the raid on the “enemies of Afghanistan” — a term Afghan authorities use to refer to the Taliban.
Kandahar Province is one of the worst hit regions in an insurgency led by the hardline militia since their ouster. The attack comes two days after Taliban rebels targeted counter-narcotics police as they destroyed an opium poppy field, killing four officers.
The Taliban, ousted from power in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001, are waging a growing insurgency and violence has spiked since early last year.
More than 8,000 people, including 1,500 civilians and nearly 220 foreign troops, were slain in the conflict last year, a UN report said.
More than 70,000 international troops are in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency and help the war-torn country rebuild.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS