A senior Taliban military commander has been killed in a US air strike in Afghanistan. An official spokesperson said, Abdul Manan, who was the Taliban’s ‘shadow governor’ in the southern Helmand province, died of injuries sustained during an air strike late this evening.
Manan’s death was also confirmed by the Taliban who in a statement described it as a big loss for the group but vowed that it will not affect their military operations.
Abdul Manan had led the insurgency group’s expansion over the opium-rich province of Helmand in recent years. He was on the blacklist unveiled mid-October by the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said Manan was the militants’ top military leader in southern Afghanistan and his death as a major blow to the Taliban.
