American special forces captured two Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan in raids on their compounds at the weekend, the U.S. military said on Monday. Spokeswoman Master Sergeant Cindy Beam named the men as Abdul Hafiz Majid and Mohammad Daud. "Coalition Special Operations Forces raided two anti-coalition compounds and captured two top enemy leaders in missions conducted pre-dawn Saturday in southern Afghanistan," she said in a statement. "We have evidence indicating that they were supplying arms to insurgents, conducting rocket attacks on (the) military, attacking non-governmental aid organisations helping Afghanistan build a national infrastructure, funding ambushes and trafficking opium."
Beam gave no precise location for the raids. "During the mission, the enemy regional leaders surrendered as coalition SOF (special operations forces) surprised the insurgents." Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claims to speak for Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime, said the commanders were not senior figures within the movement, which has waged a bloody insurgency since being overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001. |