Coalition forces kill Taliban commander in Afghanistan

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) – Coalition forces on Thursday killed a Taliban senior commander in an air strike operation in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

On Thursday night, Afghan Security Forces and coalition allies conducted an operation targeting the Taliban commander Nur Mohammed. The coalition forces killed the senior commander via a precision air strike.

"This was a very successful strike which stopped a very dangerous individual from conducting further attacks against Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition forces," said U.S. Air Force Col. James Dawkins, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center director.

Mohammed had been tracked by intelligence sources for weeks. He conducted improvised explosive device (IED) and suicide attacks in Kabul. The commander was also suspected of being currently planning imminent attacks prior to the September 18 elections.

"The Afghan people deserve to cast their votes without fear of attacks from the insurgent groups; we are continuously tracking them and taking action before they're able to carry out their plans," Dawkins added.

Intelligence sources tracked Mohammed and two armed insurgents to a field in the remote Musahi district in Kabul. After a careful planning to avoid the involvement of civilians, a coalition aircraft conducted a precision air strike on the insurgents.

A ground security force was deployed to the stroke area and confirmed the death of Mohammed along his two associates. A subsequent search found multiple automatic weapons, grenades and IED material, multiple remote IED triggers and blasting caps.

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