| Remnants of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban have killed a top intelligence chief, a spokesman for the Islamic militia said on Monday. Taliban fighters killed Ahmadullah, intelligence chief of Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan, and were planning to step up attacks on Afghan government officials and the U.S. military, said the Taliban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi. The Taliban have declared a "jihad", or holy war, against foreign and Afghan government troops and aid organisations. Since August last year, more than 600 people have been killed in violence, much of it blamed on the Taliban. Ahmadullah was captured on Thursday with two of his bodyguards near his home village of Tirin Kot, about 350 km southwest of the capital Kabul. "We killed him and his bodyguards after he refused to cooperate with us," Hakimi said. "We will not hand over their bodies until Uruzgan authorities hand over the body of a Taliban who they killed recently." Uruzgan officials were not immediately available for comment, but have confirmed the Taliban kidnapped Ahmadullah. |