KABUL: NATO-led forces said on Saturday that they had captured the senior commander for the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan, during an operation in Paktia earlier in the week.
Khan is "the uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani ... one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
Khan was captured on Tuesday in Jani Khel district of Paktia province along with his deputy and bodyguard, in an operation by Afghan and foreign forces, NATO said.
He was heavily armed but "submitted ... without incident or resistance," the force said. It did not detail how they had identified Khan.
NATO said this year they had arrested 1,300 suspected Haqqani insurgents and 300 insurgent leaders in 500 operations that aimed to disrupt the network. Around 20 "network facilitators" were killed, the statement added.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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