Top Taliban commander killed in air strike

The commander of the Taliban’s “special forces” branch was killed last week in Helmand province by Afghan forces, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said.

The national directorate of security said Mullah Shah Wali, also known as Mullah Naser, was killed in an air strike. Helmand province is a Taliban stronghold in the heartland of Afghanistan’s drug trade.

Wali became the commander of the Red Unit and deputy shadow governor of Helmand province three years ago.

He was directly involved in Taliban attacks, the directorate said.

The Red Unit is believed to be equipped with advanced weapons, including night vision scopes, 82mm rockets, heavy machine guns and US-made assault rifles, the Afghan military says.

Wali was killed alongside a suicide bomber and two other Taliban commanders in the Musa Qala district.

The US has toiled to build up Afghan air support and attack capabilities after most foreign forces withdrew three years ago.

Meanwhile, six people were killed when a suicide bomber drove a motorcycle into a crowd at a political rally in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad yesterday.

The crowd was in a sports stadium for a demonstration in support of president Ashraf Ghani, said Nangarhar police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal.

“Six people, including a woman and a child, have been killed and 13 more injured, all of them civilians,” Mr Mashriqiwal said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Nangarhar province is considered a hotbed for ISIL, which emerged in Afghanistan in late 2015.

The Taliban are also active in parts of the province.

Afghan and US officials have increased their attacks on ISIL and said the group was steadily losing territory with fighters mainly confined to two or three districts in Nangarhar, compared with nine in January.

But the group has also intensified attacks, particularly in the east and in the capital Kabul, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban.

Last month a suicide attack claimed by ISIL militants hit a political gathering in Kabul, killing 14 people.

Political rivalries have also been intensifying in the country before next year’s long-delayed district and parliamentary elections, which would pave the way for a 2019 presidential poll.

Mullah Shah Wali became commander of the Red Unit three years ago, and was deputy shadow governor of Helmand