KABUL - The Afghan army and the NATO-led coalition troops have been stepping up mounting pressure on the Haqqani network, a Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militant group accused of strings of high-profile attacks in the insurgency-hit country in recent years.
In the latest wave of search and cleanup operations on the group, a joint Afghan and NATO-led forces captured a local Haqqani leader in Terayzai district in the eastern province of Khost Monday morning, the NATO-led coalition or the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed in a press release.
"The detained Haqqani leader specializes in high-profile attacks and reported directly to senior Haqqani leaders," said the
ISAF without disclosing the name of the captured man.
The Haqqani group is the military wing of Taliban fighters headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani, who fought against former Soviet Union forces in the 1980s.
The Afghan army and ISAF forces have captured over 1,500 Haqqani network militants in different provinces throughout last year, according to ISAF officials.
Founded by Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Haqqani network has been operating in capital city Kabul and eastern Afghan provinces along the border with Pakistan's tribal belt.
"At the time of his arrest, he was equipping his insurgent cell with military uniforms for a planned attack on an Afghan government facility," the ISAF said in the news release. The security force also detained several suspected insurgents and seized multiple firearms during the operation.
According to media reports, Jalaluddin, who is in his 80s and troubled by sickness, has been a close aide to Taliban's fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The network has been blamed for a string of attacks, including a recent hostage-taking attack against a hotel in the Qargha Lake, a picnic spot on the western outskirts of Kabul on June 22.
The attack left 18 people including 17 civilians and a policeman dead. Afghan army and police rescued more than 200 People from the hotel and surrounding buildings. All the five attackers were killed.
The Afghan army and ISAF forces have captured over 1,500 Haqqani network militants in different provinces throughout last year, according to ISAF officials.
The militants group was also accused of another coordinated attack against U.S., British and German embassy compounds in Kabul's diplomatic district as well as a gunfight against the Afghan Parliament building on April 15 this year.
A total of 15 Afghan security forces and four civilians were killed and 74 others injured in the April attacks simultaneously in Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktia and Logar provinces.
Up to 36 militants were killed and one attacker was detained by security forces in one of the most massive attacks so far this year.
Meanwhile, another setback for the militia was losing of eight Haqqani members during a special operation against a militants' hideout in eastern Paktia province late last month.
"In Ahmadabad district, Paktia province, an Afghan and coalition force conducted a security operation in search of a Haqqani leader Saturday (June 30). During the operation, the security force identified an armed group of insurgents at a Haqqani camp. After strike, the security force conducted a follow- on assessment which confirmed numerous insurgents had been killed and no civilians had been harmed," said an ISAF statement on July 1.
Deputy governor of the Paktia province, Abdul Rahman Mangal, told Xinhua that eight Haqqani members including a key commander named Haddam Khan Kochi were killed in the air bomb attack which occurred in a tree-covered area in the province 100 km south of Kabul.
Another big blow for the group was the capture of 16 Haqqani members, including their commander named Mullah Tajmir, in Kabul by Afghan intelligence personnel of the National Directorate for Security (NDS) in the last week of June, a spokesman with the body said on July 2.
"Fortunately we have captured 16 terrorists who planned to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in Kabul and foiled their vicious designs," spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri told a press conference.
The terrorists were planning to target Kabul international airport, ISAF guest house, the Supreme Court, the national army base in Deh Zabz outside Kabul and some more installations, Tahiri added.
The U.S. government in mid-May this year also slapped sanctions on two individuals linked to Taliban and the Haqqani Network.
"Bakht Gul, a Haqqani Network communications official, is being designated for acting for or on behalf of Badruddin Haqqani, and Abdul Baqi Bari, a Taliban financier, is being designated for providing financial support for, and/or financial services to, the Taliban," the U.S. Department of Treasury said in a statement.
The designation is aimed to "ensure all those who perpetrate ongoing violence and terrorist activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan will continue to be marginalized and cut off from the international financial system," said the statement.
The U.S. Senate is mulling Tuesday to list the Haqqani network as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, according to local media. The United States listed the Taliban as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity in July 2002. (Bokhdi)