தற்கொலைப்படை பயங்கரவாதத்தை விமர்சித்த இமாமுக்கு தாலிபான் பாராட்டு

ஆப்கானிஸ்தானத்தில் தற்கொலைப்படையாக வரும் இஸ்லாமிய பயங்கரவாதிகளை கண்டித்து பேசிய இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் சுட்டுக்கொல்லப்பட்டார்.

Taliban kill mullah critical of suicide(AP)

14 November 2008 Print E-mail
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Suspected Taliban militants killed a religious leader in western Afghanistan after he criticized the use of suicide attacks in the country, an Afghan official said Friday.

Militants kidnapped Shamsudin Agha in Farah province's Anar Dara district on Tuesday, days after he led prayers condemning the practice of using suicide attacks as a weapon of war, said provincial police Chief Abdul Ghafar Watandar.

Suicide attacks are one of the Taliban's preferred tactics in their attacks against Afghan and foreign troops. Most of the victims of such attacks have been civilians.

Authorities recovered Agha's body on Wednesday night in Farah's Khaki Safed district, Watandar said.

Agha was the head of the religious council of Farah's Anar Dara district, he said.

In eastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a suicide car bomber struck a police vehicle, wounding two officers, said Wazir Pacha, a provincial police spokesman.

Violence by the Taliban and other insurgent groups has spiked this year to record levels. Attacks are up 30 percent from 2007, military officials say.

On Thursday, another suicide car bomber struck a U.S. patrol, killing eight Afghan civilians and one U.S. soldier and wounding 74 civilians, Afghan officials said.

Nearly 1,000 civilians are among the approximately 5,400 people killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press of figures provided by Afghan and international officials. Most of the reported dead have been militants.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed four al-Qaida-linked militants during a raid in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.

The troops were targeting militants who helped local Taliban leaders bring Arab and other foreign fighters into Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement Friday.

The raid occurred in Zormat district in Paktia province. None of the militants killed was identified.

Three other militants were killed in neighboring Ghazni province Thursday, said Ismail Jahangir, the spokesman for the province's governor.