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| Afghanistan |
| Hafiz Majid iced near Chaman |
| 2002-04-24 |
| Unidentified gunmen shot dead a senior commander of the Taleban in southwestern Pakistan, police and family sources said Wednesday. They said Hafiz Abdul Majid, who had been staying with relatives, was shot dead in Shin Talab village near Chaman late Tuesday. Two masked men riding a motorbike opened fire on Majid outside the family home before making their escape. Pakistani border police confirmed the murder but did not discuss Majid's past affiliations. Majid's family said he had served as garrison commander in the Taleban's former stronghold of Kandahar before being captured late last year in the northern province of Kunduz by U.S.-backed Afghan opposition forces. He was among 212 Afghan and Pakistani prisoners released in March as a goodwill gesture by Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai, they said. The family sources told reporters they suspected that pro-government elements in Kandahar's post-Taleban administration were behind the shooting. Majid is described as being one of Mullah Omar's right-hand men. He wasn't captured at Konduz. He kept his arms and vehicles after Kandahar fell, and holed up in a hospital. Nobody seems to have liked him. "Even if he surrenders, he won't be forgiven. Somebody will kill him," the commander who ran him down said. "There are civilian patients inside the hospital." Guess he was right. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |