Taliban rebel leader killed in Afghanistan

A suspected Taliban rebel leader was killed in recent heavy fighting in eastern Afghanistan, while elsewhere an American service member died in a training accident, the US military said today.

Qari Amadullah, believed to have led up to 50 Taliban militants armed with rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, died in a firefight on Tuesday with Afghan and US forces near the city of Wazikwa in Paktika province, the military said in a statement.

Another five militants were killed and three US service members were wounded during the clash, in an area where Afghan and US forces were conducting operations to kill or capture suspected Taliban insurgent leaders, the statement said.

The name of the militant is the same as that of the former intelligence chief for the Taliban regime, which was toppled by US-led forces in late 2001. But Afghan authorities and the US military were unable to confirm whether it was the same person.

Yesterday, an American service member was killed and two others were wounded in an explosives training accident in central Uruzgan province, the military said – the seventh US fatality in Afghanistan in eight days.

The name of the killed service member was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The two wounded Americans were evacuated to Bagram Airfield, the main US base in Afghanistan north of the capital Kabul, for medical treatment.