PESHAWAR -- A mid-level Afghan commander of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network was killed Wednesday (January 24) in a coalition air strike in the Pakistani tribal region, Pakistani officials said, days after Afghan authorities blamed the group for attacking a luxury Kabul hotel.
The pre-dawn strike took place more than 50km from the Afghan border in Mamuzai village of Kurram Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The coalition aircraft fired one missile at a two-room compound, killing the commander and destroying the building, a senior official in Kurram told AFP.
"Resultantly one individual, namely Nasir Mehmood alias Ihsanullah Khurya, [son of] Aqeel Muhammad, was killed," the official said. He described Mehmood as an Afghan national and a "mid-level commander of the Haqqani Network".
A source close to the Haqqani group confirmed that at least one mid-level Afghan commander had been killed.
