By Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL
At least 13 Taliban militants were killed and two others were injured following NATO drone strikes in various provinces of Afghanistan, Afghan authorities said.
The drone strike targeted a meeting of high-level Taliban officials and military commanders.
Four Afghan Taliban senior officials were among those killed in the incidents.
According to local officials, a NATO predator drone fired missiles at an insurgent hideout in Tagab district of eastern Kapisa province on Sunday night while they were planning terrorist attacks on Afghan national security forces.
“Taliban shadow district governor and two other military commanders were among five killed and two others were wounded following a drone strike in Tagab district,” provincial deputy police Colonel Obaidullah Talwar told The Anadolu Agency.
Afghan security forces have been conducting a clearing operation against local and foreign insurgence in Tagab district of Kapisa province in recent days.
International coalition forces have recently increased their drone strikes on Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan on Sunday.
From Jan. 1, 2015, the mission will evolve into training and advising the nascent Afghan security forces. The 13,000 foreign troops for the Resolute Support Mission will come from 28 NATO allies and 14 other partner nations.
In a separate drone strike in eastern Nuristan province at least three Taliban militants and their commander were killed.
“A U.S. drone strike has killed four insurgents including their commander late Sunday night in Wanat Wigal district,” provincial governor Hafiz Abdul Qayom told the AA.
There were no civilian casualties. An investigation is underway about the identity of those killed militants.
At least 1,000 local and foreign militants, according to Afghan officials, conducted deadly attacks on Nuristan and adjoining province of Kunar over the past week aiming to establish a buffering area and shift their bases from Pakistan into Afghan territory.
Similarly, at least four militants were killed overnight, according to provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, after a drone strike in Ghani Khel district in Afghanistan`s Nangarhar province, some 148 km east of capital Kabul.
Almost 50 percent of drone strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan have been conducted in eastern provinces which border Pakistan.
www.aa.com.tr/en
