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Afghanistan

Local Taliban Spokesman Detained

2009-10-12

[Quqnoos] Afghan forces have arrested four Taliban insurgents, including a Taliban spokesman, in western Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday. Bashir Qinaat, who was claiming responsibility for multiple insurgent attacks on behalf of the Taliban, was captured in a military operation in the Guzara district of the western Herat province. Mr Qinaat has been accused of having ties with the Al Qaeda network and other sources funding the insurgency in Afghanistan, said Gen Jalandar Shah Behnam, Commander of Afghan Army in western Afghanistan. The detained Taliban media man has links with two other purported Taliban spokesmen in the restive southern Afghan region, Gen Behnam added. The official further said that Qinaat was arrested just a day after the killing of a key militant commander, Ghulam Yahya Akbari, in the region. The prominent militant leader, including 26 insurgents, was killed in a major overnight military offensive in the district of Guzara. Afghan and NATO-led forces stormed a militant stronghold in the district on Thursday, killing scores of insurgents, including their leader, Akbari. The death of Akbari is considered a major blow in the militant network in Herat. Akbari's militant group has been known as 'Al Fath' and was apparently affiliated both to Taliban and Al Qaeda networks.

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Afghanistan

Blast Kills Six Civilians in Herat

2009-06-21

[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a car in western Afghanistan, killing six members of a family, Friday midnight, officials said Naqibullah Arween, a spokesman for the local administration said three women are including the victims of the mine that went off in Guzara district of Herat province. The victims were heading off to Guzara district after visiting relatives in Herat city, he added. "We suspect the bomb was planted by the Taliban to target security forces. It struck a civilian car and killed three women and three men," Mr Arween said. No parities including the Taliban have immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that killed only civilians. Guzara, a few km south of the relatively stable Heart city is a restive district in the province. Quqnoos's Reza Shir Mohammadi in Herat says Guzara is a stronghold of insurgents led by Ghulam Yahya Akbari, a local guerilla leader who previously served as a top provincial official under Karzai administration. Normally Taliban escapes to claim responsibility of such insurgent attacks that target local civilians in the country. The incident in Guzara district of Herat is one of recent deadly incidents that end to the deaths of local people in Afghanistan. Soldier killed Moreover in a separate roadside bomb blast, a British soldier has been killed in the southern Helmand province, the heartland of the Taliban militants. The soldier died on Friday morning during a routine patrol in central Helmand province, Sky news reported on Saturday. The soldier's death raises the death toll of British army in Afghanistan to 169 since the beginning of the war in October 2001.

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