Sidelights

Commandos kill 22: Af-ghan commandos killed 22 insurgents on Monday during an operation to capture a Taleban commander in eastern Afghanistan, police and the US military said.

The raid was carried out in the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar when a team of commandos raided a village looking for the Taleban leader, the US-led Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force said in an announcement. During the raid, insurgents opened fire on the soldiers and 22 of the Taleban were killed, the task forces said.

Masoum Khan Hashimi, the deputy police chief of Nangarhar province, said there were no casualties among the security forces or civilians. He said the Taleban commander, Jamal Faroqi, was killed in the predawn raid and 10 insurgents were captured. (AP)

World sea piracy down: World sea piracy fell 35 percent from a year ago in the first quarter of 2013, with the spotlight shifting to West Africa as navies helped keep pirates away from Somalia, an international maritime watchdog said Monday.

The International Maritime Bureau said 66 attacks were recorded worldwide in the first three months, down from 102 in the same period last year. Four vessels were hijacked with 75 crew members taken hostage and one killed during the period, according to data compiled by the London-based bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The bureau said five attacks were reported off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, including one hijacking. That is down sharply from 36 cases a year ago, thanks to beefed-up naval patrols led by the US and increased security measures on ships transiting the region. In the year 2010, 49 vessels were hijacked off Somalia and more than 1,000 crew members were taken hostage. Sea piracy plunged to its lowest level in five years in 2012. Atotal of 297 attacks were recorded worldwide, down sharply from 439 in 2011.

At the same time, piracy is becoming a greater concern in the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa. The bureau reported 15 attacks in the gulf, including three hijackings. (AP)