Posted by
Catmman on Sunday, May 13, 2007 9:44:06 AM
I'm glad we're losing this war becasue who knows how many of these terrorist leaders we'd kill otherwise. Posted from Hot Air:
No confirmation yet from NATO but an Afghan official claims to have seen the body. Another official (or the same one?) tells Reuters it’s in Kandahar, presumably in the government’s possession. AFP quotes an Interior Ministry official as saying his brother’s been killed, too.
Big, big news if it’s true.
Update: Feeling optimistic…
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force did not confirm the death but hinted that it was true. “You might want to keep pursuing it. It certainly is an issue that we’re tracking,” said spokesman Maj. John Thomas.
Update: Fortuitous timing by Strategy Page with this piece, which suggests Dadullah might still have been holed up in that village where he was surrounded by Afghan troops on April 23. I don’t buy it. Why would they have waited three weeks to move in?
NATO needs some good PR right now. Cross your fingers.
Update: The AP’s got a second source now, but this one’s not from NATO either: “A second intelligence service official said Dadullah was killed near the Sangin and Nahri Sarraj districts of Helmand province, which have seen heavy fighting involving British and Afghan troops and U.S. Special Forces.”
Update: The Beeb says Afghan media has seen the proof: “His body was later taken to the city of Kandahar and shown to reporters.”
Update: Here he is in a snippet from his last known interview, taunting the west with nonsense about the boogeyman:
Update: The Afghan interior ministry and the governor of Helmand provine say it’s true. Only waiting for NATO now.
Update: The Beeb says it can confirm. “Soldiers later took the body to the city of Kandahar, where it was seen by a BBC reporter.”
Update: Looks like it’s for real. Score!
Afghan government officials showed the body of Mullah Dadullah, the top operational commander for the Taliban insurgency, to reporters here Sunday morning, saying he had been killed in a joint operation of Afghan and coalition forces.
Mr. Dadullah, an amputee, was recognizable in part from his missing leg and white beard.
White beard?