KABUL (Dispatches) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency announced that it has killed a Taliban commander who masterminded a recent deadly terror attack on a military base in the central province of Maidan Wardak, which reportedly killed some 126 security forces.
Afghanistan’s National Directorate for Security (NDS) said in a statement on Wednesday that the terrorist commander, who was only identified as Noman, had been killed in an air raid on Tuesday night, Asia News reported.
"Noman, along with seven others, was targeted after being identified by the NDS forces in an operative task,” the statement noted, adding, "NDS will follow the terrorist group and kill them all.”
The Taliban militants attacked the military base in Maidan Wardak on Monday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has announced the death of one of its service members in a combat mission in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Department of Defense made the announcement, saying that the soldier had been killed "as a result of enemy small arms fire,” without disclosing the name of the service member or the branch of the military.
"In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the name of the service member killed in action is being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The NATO mission in Afghanistan – Resolute Support Mission (RSM) – said the incident was under investigation, declining to provide further details.
This is the second US service member killed in military operations in Afghanistan in 2019.
U.S. Army Sergeant Cameron Meddock died last week at a medical facility in Germany of injuries sustained during a combat operation on January 13 in the northwestern Afghan province of Badghis.
More than 2,400 American forces have been killed in the country since the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in October 2001. The offensive removed the Taliban regime from power, but after more than one and a half decades, the foreign troops are still deployed to the country.
According to the Pentagon, there are about 14,000 troops, mostly from the US and NATO countries, in Afghanistan for "advice and assist mission.”
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the military to begin plans to withdraw about 7,000 American troops from Afghanistan in coming months but the pullout has yet to start.