Kabul, April 23: Four militant commanders have been arrested by Afghan and foreign forces, which also regained control of a key district in southern Afghanistan, an official says.
“The Afghan National Police backed by the NATO-led troops, during an operation, recaptured Gizab district late Wednesday,” Matiullah Popal, the police commander of Uruzgan-Kandahar highway, was quoted by Xinhua as saying on Thursday.
Gizab district, located in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan Province, has been under militant control for over five years. A contingent of Australian troops supported the Afghan police in the operation, Popal added.
The forces also “arrested four militant commanders including the shadow district governor, Mullah Hikmat,” said the police commander.
Popal identified the other militants as Mullah Sadiq, Mohammad Yaqub and Mullah Omar — not to be mistaken with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader — saying that they were all “famous Taliban commanders” in Gizab.
He also said that no casualties on combined forces and civilians were reported during the operation.
This is while operations under the command of US-led NATO forces usually result in the loss of civilian lives.
Afghan civilians have been paying a high price since the 2001 US-led invasion. Thousand of civilians have been forced to flee their homes while many others have lost their lives to militant and foreign forces’ fire.
Over 2,400 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year.
——–Agencies