Afghanistan: 9 killed in attack against Taliban

A NATO airstrike early Wednesday destroyed a compound housing a Taliban leader responsible for a wave of violence across southern Afghanistan, killing at least nine people, officials said. NATO said it believed the strike killed a Taliban leader linked to an uprising in the nearby town of Musa Qala, which the Taliban overran on Feb. 1, and for an attack Tuesday against a dam in nearby Kajaki. "We have removed yet another Taliban enemy leader who will no longer threaten the peace and security of the Afghan people and their future," said Lt. Col. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The airstrike against the compound in a small village outside Musa Qala killed nine Taliban fighters who had sought shelter there the previous night, said provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhail.