Australian Troops Kill Taliban Commander / Australian Military Says Senior Taliban Commander Killed

Australian Troops Kill Taliban Commander / Australian Military Says Senior Taliban Commander Killed (NSI News Source Info) January 12, 2009: Australian Special Forces have killed a senior Taliban insurgent in southern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday. The Australian Defence Force said Mullah Abdul Rasheed was involved in bringing foreign fighters, improvised explosive device (IED) experts and potential suicide bombers into the restive area. "Rasheed was a senior commander in the Baluchi Valley and was believed to be responsible for Taliban operations in the area resulting in the deaths of Coalition Force members and Afghan civilians in recent months," it said in a statement. "He had been identified as a primary IED facilitator, responsible for coordinating IED emplacement in Uruzgan province." The Australian military said its special forces troops ordered the attack following the receipt of all necessary approvals from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operating in Afghanistan. In a statement, the ISAF said that Rasheed was killed on January 7. On a visit to Australia's 1,000 troops in Afghanistan Saturday, defence force head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said special forces had killed a long-hunted Taliban leader but did not name the commander. "They went into an area (where) this guy was the leader. They got him," he told Australian Associated Press. Rasheed is believed to be the organiser of the rocket attack that struck a remote patrol base in the Baluchi Valley just over a week ago, killing Australian Private Gregory Sher. The soldier, whose funeral was held in Melbourne on Sunday, was the eighth Australian serviceman to die in Afghanistan.