Insurgent Commander Killed in Herat

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Insurgent Commander Killed in Herat
February 19, 2009
Long War Journal|by Bill Roggio

Coalition forces killed a senior insurgent commander during an airstrike in the western province of Herat.

Ghulam Yahya Akbari, the leader of an independent insurgent group aligned with the Taliban, and upwards of 15 of his leaders and fighters were killed in a "precision strike" that targeted his headquarters in Herat's Gozara district.

Akbari was "a key insurgent commander" with "affiliations with Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin and the Taliban," the US military said in a press release. He was behind a surge in violence in Herat province over the past several months.

Akbari, who was also known as the “Tajik Taliban,” served as the mayor of the city of Herat before the Taliban took control in 1995. After the fall of the Taliban, he was appointed the province's minister of public works. He was relieved of his position in 2008 and took up arms against the government shortly afterward.

Akbari maintained his base of operations in the Gozara district, which has been considered an area outside of the government's control. In an interview with Al Jazeera he claimed to have run more than 20 bases in the region and boasted of having more than 600 fighters under his command.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/February-2009/insurgent-commander-killed-in-herat.html?col=1186032310810