U.S., Afghan forces kill Taliban leader

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan forces killed a regional Taliban commander in a clash that also left an American soldier and an Afghan interpreter dead, the military said Friday as violence spiraled ahead of this month’s landmark elections.

The Taliban commander – identified by Afghan officials as Thor Mullah Manan – was killed with another rebel fighter in a firefight Thursday with coalition and Afghan forces in Daychopan district of southern Zabul province, the U.S. military said.

The military said Manan was in command of three other Taliban sub-commanders and responsible for the movement of equipment and personnel throughout the northwest Zabul province – regarded as a hotbed of Taliban-led insurgents.

It did not identify the American, whose death comes amid a surge of violence that has claimed about 1,100 lives across Afghanistan – including hundreds of suspected rebels – ahead of Sept. 18 legislative elections.

At least 189 U.S. troops have died in and around Afghanistan in the past four years.

The former Taliban militia, ousted from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, oppose the elections, a key step in the country’s transition to democracy after years of war and civil strife.

“We anticipated an increase of enemy action as we get closer to election day, and are always saddened when a U.S. soldier or Afghan gives his life in the ultimate sacrifice,” said Brig. Gen. James G. Champion, deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force-76.

In another incident northeast of the southern city of Kandahar, one U.S. soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded when they came under small-arms fire, the military said.

Ali Khail, spokesman for the Zabul governor, said three other Taliban fighters blew themselves up Friday while planting a land mine on a road in Zabul’s Arghandab district, just north of Kandahar.

Elsewhere, the bodies of a man and woman found shot dead in southern Afghanistan arrived in the capital on Friday for identification to see if they were those of two Japanese tourists who went missing early this month after crossing the border from Pakistan. Authorities were preparing to conduct an autopsy on the bodies, which were found by villagers Thursday on a road linking Kandahar with the Pakistan border. Both appeared to have been fatally shot several days ago.