Taliban’s Afghan Leader Reported Killed ; WORLD

By Kim Sengupta

The most senior Taliban military commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, is reported to have been killed in fighting yesterday.

Dadullah, who was one-legged and claimed links with al-Qa’ida, is said to have died in an operation involving US, British and Afghan forces in the south of the country. According to defence sources, his movement had been tracked for several days by satellite after information received from within insurgent ranks before he was ambushed be-tween Sangin and Nahri Sarraj districts of Helmand. The body of the 40-year-old, called the Afghan version of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the now dead Iraqi insurgent leader, was shown yesterday in Kandahar. The corpse, with the left leg missing, showed one bullet wound to the head and two to the stomach.

The decision by Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid to put the body on display was an attempt to prove that Dadullah really had been killed. Previous reports of his death had proved to be untrue. Mr Khalid said: ” Mullah Dadullah was the backbone of the Taliban. He was a cruel commander who killed and beheaded Afghan civilians.” A statement issued by Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said: ” Mullah Dadullah will most certainly be replaced in time but the insurgency has received a serious blow.” Said Ansari, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, said: “The operation was carried out in Helmand and there were Afghan forces working alongside Nato. It was a successful operation.”

Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, who claims to be a Taliban spokesman, denied that the commander had been killed, saying: “He is alive and that can be proven.”

Dadullah is a veteran guerrilla fighter who lost his leg in a landmine blast in 1995. He later led Taliban fighters against the Northern Alliance and built up a reputation for extreme brutality, which included the massacre of hundreds of civilians from the Hazara community in Bamian province. Even the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, felt that Dadullah had overstepped the mark and recalled him from the front.

However, following the US-led invasion of 2001, Omar appointed Dadullah the leader of the Taliban forces in Afghanistan. He was also made a member of the 10-strong Rahbari Shura – leadership council – which directed attacks. One other member of the Shura has been killed by Nato forces and the rest remain among the most wanted figures in the Taliban. Dadullah is said to have organised the suicide bombing campaign which has killed dozens in the last two years – a tactic hitherto unknown in Afghanistan.

He also became known for beheadings. Videos of him cutting off prisoners’ heads, including women, were posted on the Internet and sold in bazaars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Unlike other Taliban leaders, who tried to avoid publicity for reasons of security, he met selected journalists. He recently declared in a television interview that he had hundreds of suicide bombers prepared to launch an offensive.

His fighters are said to have been behind the kidnapping of an Italian journalist and two French aid workers. They were released, but the driver and translat o r wh o worked for the journalist were later killed.

Afghan officials have repeatedly claimed that Dadullah was protected by the Pakistani secret service, ISI, a charge denied by the Pakistani government.

The Taliban commander, whose wife and children live in the Pakistani city of Quetta, was also involved in internecine power struggles and had been accused of having one rival killed in a Nato air strike by putting out information through his Pakistani sponsors.

A senior Taliban leader, Mullah Ghul Agha, said he was a man whose mood could change instantly from cheerfulness to rage. “He would kill anyone for not obeying orders”, he said.

(c) 2007 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.