Mullah accidentally blows up self, sons

From correspondents in Kandahar

February 11, 2008 06:07pm

Article from: Agence France-Presse

A LANDMINE blew up in the home of a religious cleric in southern Afghanistan, killing the mullah, two of his sons and two other men who had been preparing an attack, police said today.

The cleric's wife was critically wounded in the blast in their compound in the southern province of Helmand late yesterday, and a daughter was hurt, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.

The bodies of the mullah and his two sons, both under 15 years old, remained at the site of the blast, he said.

Other people in the compound said two other men were killed but their bodies had been removed before police arrived, he said. ( HELLO, G )

The group was likely associated with the Taliban, he said. The extremist militants are particular active in Helmand province, where they are said to be tied up with opium and heroin traffickers.

An insurgency by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, was its deadliest last year with more than 6,000 people killed, most of them rebels but including hundreds of civilians.

Taliban suicide and roadside bombings are generally aimed at Afghan and international soldiers but kill more civilians.

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Top Taliban Commander killed

Top Taliban Commander killed in Afghanistan. -
August 30, 2007

Mullah Berader, a top Taliban commander, was killed early this morning in a U.S. air strike in volatile Helmand province, a senior Afghan general tells ABC News.

A convoy of British troops and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers was traveling through Salwan Qala district when they came under attack by Taliban forces, said Gen. Ghulam Mohiauddin Ghoori, the commander of ANA ground troops for Helmand.

Amid an intense firefight, the British troops called in air support. American warplanes struck the Taliban positions, causing dozens of casualties, said Gen. Ghoori. Among the dead, his men on the ground confirmed, was Mullah Berader.

In Kabul, the Defense Ministry also confirmed the report, saying Berader was killed in a pre-dawn raid.

Berader, also known colloquially as Mullah Brother, was close to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. His death will come as a major blow to the Taliban hierarchy and follows the deaths of senior commander Mullah Dadullah Lang in May and the arrest of Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah in Quetta, Pakistan in March. Many believed Berader succeeded Obaidullah as defense minister, though his exact rank was in dispute.

OUR ESTIMATE IS HE WAS IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO PULL PRESSURE OFF TORA BORA, Malawa valley AREA WITH NEW ATTACKS ELSE WHERE.

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