Slain Taliban leader's ID confirmed(but can' t provide visual proof)

[maddezmom]

By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer
35 minutes ago

KABUL, Afghanistan - Forensic analysis and other information enabled the U.S. military to verify that a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan last week, a spokesman said Sunday.

The military is "very sure" it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was "obliterated" in Tuesday's attack on a vehicle traveling through Helmand province, said military spokesman Col. Tom Collins.

A Taliban spokesman has disputed that Osmani died in the attack, and identified another militant it claimed was killed.

Collins said Osmani was the highest-ranking Taliban leader killed by the U.S.-led coalition since the invasion of Afghanistan that ousted the hardline regime in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden. He said Osmani's death would hurt militant operations.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061224/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

Seems odd they don't even have a picture of the vehicle?

[babylonsister]

1. Another one of those 'trust us' moments; why should we? nt

[maddezmom]

2. I don't trust either side of this one

If he was alive the Taliban could just put out a video and the US Military could at the very least provide a picture of the "obliterated vehicle" or hole in the ground or whatever.

[lastknowngood]

3. Question where the hell are we getting the DNA of these people to

test against?

[maddezmom]

4. it was not thru DNA according to this article

Osmani had been captured by U.S. special forces in Kandahar in 2002, but "he was later released by mistake," Collins said.


Osmani was identified through forensic analysis, but not through DNA tests, Collins said. The type of analysis performed was classified information.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061223/taliban_killing_061224/20061224?hub=World&s_name=

[robcon]

5. Good riddance to the Taliban scum

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

9. Taliban is winning the war in Afghanistan

while we have a large army in Iraq in a war that was lost long ago.

Meanwhile, women are still forced to wear burqas and are subjected to sharia law in the few areas that are controlled by America's puppet, Karzai. Women's lost their rights in Afghanistan the day we had the CIA-paid for Islamists overthrow the Marxist government.

[rodeodance]

6. it is 'classified'----the forensicanalysis

.......Osmani was identified through forensic analysis, but not through DNA tests, Collins said. The type of analysis performed was classified information.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed the airstrike in fact killed Mullah Abdul Zahir, a group commander, and three other Taliban fighters.

"I confirm that Osmani is alive and is in Afghanistan," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location after the U.S. military announcement made Saturday.

But Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, said that sources close to the Taliban confirmed to its correspondent in Islamabad that, "Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was really killed with his companion Maulavi Abdul Zahir Baloushi and a third unidentified person."

[lpbk2713]

7. I can make you a real good deal on a bridge in Brooklyn.

But I just can't show you right now.


You'll just have to trust me on this. :eyes:

[Eugene]

8. They got a real #4 guy. Good, but there are plenty more where he came from.

Last month, CIA chief Michael Hayden said that al-Qaeda has
a deep pool of experienced, low ranking militants who can
step up into leadership positions.

Taliban, Al-Qaeda Resurge In Afghanistan, CIA Says - Washington Post

We can knock off number two, three, and four guys for years
without crippling al-Qaeda.

[maddezmom]

10. so the Taliban now is confirming it to Reuters

:eyes:

Taliban confirm top commander killed in U.S. strike

~snip~
But a senior Taliban commander who declined to be identified confirmed Osmani had been killed.

"He has died. We got this information on the day of the strike but our leadership ordered us not to disclose it," the commander, speaking by telephone, told a Reuters reporter in the Pakistani border town of Chaman.

"He was not only an experienced military commander but also good in making financial transactions for us. He had good contacts," he said, without elaborating.

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061227/wl_nm/afghan_taliban_dc

[pinniped]

11. Ya, just like John Mason (Sean Connery) in The Rock.

his body was "obliterated"