Al-Qaida-linked terrorist leader killed in Afghanistan: ISAF

KABUL. March 27. KAZINFORM A senior al-Qaida-linked terrorist leader was killed Monday in an operation conducted by Afghan forces and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan's northern province of Faryab, the ISAF forces said on Tuesday. "An Afghan Special Unit and coalition troops conducted an operation in Shirin Tagab district, Faryab province, on Sunday to detain Makhdum Nusrat, the senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ( IMU) leader in Afghanistan,"the ISAF said in a press release.

The IMU is a terrorist organization closely linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It conducts insurgent attacks in the northern region of Afghanistan among other countries in Central Asia, according to the release. "During the operation, insurgents fired on the combined security force. The force returned fire, killing Makhdum and several other IMU insurgents. Two other insurgents were detained along with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, multiple rockets, several AK-47s and a number of grenades,"the release said.

According to the ISAF, Makhdum was the highest-ranking IMU insurgent operating in Afghanistan. He led attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout the northern provinces for the past eight months and plotted the assassination of an Afghan parliament member in Kabul.

Afghan forces and ISAF troops have intensified cleanup operations throughout the post-Taliban country recently as spring and summer, known as "fighting season", are drawing near. Over 280 insurgents have been killed and more than 800 others detained in the country since the beginning of this year, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

Source: Xinhua