At least 20 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan's south-east in an operation against the Haqqani network, whose leader Washington wants designated a terrorist, the Nato-led alliance said on Thursday. Air strikes were called in after Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops found dozens of insurgents in "entrenched fighting positions" in a mountainous area of Dzadran district in Paktia, not far from the Pakistan border, ISAF said in a statement.
Washington is pressuring Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani network, a group allied with the Taliban and believed to have close links with al Qaeda. "This area is a known Haqqani network safe haven and used to stage attacks into Kabul and the Khost-Gardez pass," ISAF said.
"An air weapons team suppressed the enemy, resulting in more than 20 insurgents killed so far." The Haqqani network, headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a hero of the 1980s guerrilla war against the Soviet Union, and his son, is based mainly in Pakistan's North Waziristan and adjoining provinces in Afghanistan. It has staged several high-profile attacks, including an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008. General James Mattis, confirmed on August 6 as the new head of the US military command overseeing operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said last month he wanted leaders of the group designated as terrorists.