SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, 16 September 2003 — At least 15 Taleban fighters, a senior commander among them, were killed in southern Afghanistan in an overnight clash involving US-led forces, an Afghan official said yesterday. But a former intelligence official from the ousted hard-line regime denied the death of Mulla Abdur Rahim, who has control over southern Afghanistan where the Taleban has been most active in carrying out attacks in recent months.
“Fifteen Taleban were killed, including Mulla Abdur Rahim, in Maruf district,” said Afghan Foreign Ministry official Khalid Khan Achakzai, speaking in the town of Spin Boldak not far from the Pakistan frontier. He said the fighters killed in the clash had probably come from Zabul, which borders the province of Kandahar.
The Dai Chopan district of Zabul was the scene of often intense clashes between US-led forces and their Afghan allies and hundreds of Taleban guerrillas. More than one hundred Taleban fighters and several Afghan soldiers died in the fighting. “They were trying to regroup and launch fresh attacks,” Achakzai told Reuters.
Mulla Abdul Samad, an intelligence officer in the radical Taleban regime, denied the death of Rahim.
