US raid kills 'Taleban commander'

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A senior Taleban commander and associate of al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, has been killed in Afghanistan, the US military says. Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Usmani's vehicle was reportedly hit in an air strike in Helmand province in south Afghanistan. The US said Mullah Usmani was the chief Taleban military commander in southern Afghanistan - scene of heavy clashes between the Taleban and US-led forces. A Taleban spokesman is said to have dismissed reports of his death. An Islamist insurgency spearheaded by the resurgent Taleban militia is at its strongest in the southern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan. 'Not present' US military spokesman Col Tom Collins said Mullah Usmani "had been deeply involved in terrorist acts against the people of Afghanistan, Nato and the government". "He was a top commander of Taleban operations in the south and now he's no more." Col Collins said Usmani was one of four commanders at the top of the Taleban's hierarchy and had also been in charge of the militia's finances. He was reportedly close to the Taleban's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and to al-Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden. Two people travelling with Mullah Usmani also died in the air strike on his vehicle, the US military said. The attack reportedly took place on Tuesday. A Taleban spokesman quoted by the Reuters news agency denied the commander had been killed. "He is not present in the area where American forces are claiming to have killed him," commander Mullah Hayat Khan told the agency by telephone. "The American and Nato forces from time to time make such false claims. It's just propaganda against the Taleban."