A senior Taliban commander and two other insurgents were killed in a firefight with Nato and Afghan forces in western Afghanistan, the military alliance said Sunday, as the government named a chief of a new council tasked with talking to insurgent groups.
Also Sunday, five civilians died in a roadside bombing in the east, and two Nato troops were killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber targeting a convoy of foreign forces wounded two civilians in eastern Khost province's Mandozai district, said provincial police chief General Abdul Hakim Hsaqzai.
Intelligence sources tracked a Taliban commander identified as Mullah Jamaluddin as he travelled in western Badghis province's Murghab district Saturday, and Nato and Afghan forces moved in. A gunbattle erupted and the Taliban leader and two militants were killed, Nato said. Provincial spokesman Sharaf Uddin Majidi confirmed Nato's account.