Drone strike has killed a senior Taliban commander in Logar province, an official said on Sunday.

Mawlawi Habib Rahman, head of Taliban’s military commission in Baraki Barak District was reportedly targeted the air strike last night.

Mohammad Rahim Amin, governor of Baraki Barak District said that three comrades of Mawlawi Rahman were also killed the air strike carried out in Cholzi area.

The district governor further said that Mawlawi Rahman was doing destructive activities in Baraki Barak for the past few years.

“After the killing of Mawlawi Habib Rahman, the security in this district will get better.” He said.

Taliban had no commented on the report by the time this report was filed.

More than 150 militants have been killed on various fronts across Afghanistan during the last 48 hours, the Afghan security establishment announced on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Defense, a total of 127 suspected militants were killed across the country in the past 48 hours. Another 16 militants were reported dead by the Ministry of Interior.

Subhanqul Ibrahimi, spokesman for the provincial police department, said Saturday that some 34 militants were also killed in Almaar, Qiasaar and Garziwan districts.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense also claimed in a statement on Saturday that the Nawzad district in southern Helmand province had been reclaimed two days after the Taliban overran it.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousef Ahmadi, however, dismissed the reports and claimed that the district remained in its control.

Sindh Rangers killed at least four terrorists during an operation at Super Highway near Kathore area in Gadap Town of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh on July 31, reported The News. Rangers’ spokesman said that the paramilitary force also recovered arms from their possession. He said the terrorists killed in the action were involved in several murder cases. The militants have been identified as Muhammad Asif alias Ajmal, Muhammad Amir Khan, Abdul Waseem alias Channy Wala and Younis Ahmed alias Kalia.

Separately, a man, identified as Zeeshan (25), was killed by unidentified armed assailants near Adam Tea House in Lyari Town on July 30, reports Daily Times.

In another incident, one Shafiqur Rahman (35), was shot at and injured when unidentified militants fired on him near Ghosia Hotel in Quaidabad area of Landhi Town on July 30, reported Daily Times.

Elsewhere, a man, identified as Fahim (25), was shot and injured in Old Kumhar Compound in Lyari Town on July 30, reports Daily Times.

Mullah Omar’s death poses an existential crisis for the Afghan Taliban, analysts say, potentially presaging a splintering of the movement as the Islamic State (IS) group gains a toehold among insurgents enthralled by its battlefield prowess.
The group has suffered a string of recent defections to IS, with some insurgents voicing disaffection with the ‘ghost leader’, who hasn’t been seen in public since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Afghan Taliban from power.
The Taliban’s confirmation Thursday of Omar’s death will inevitably deepen divisions, observers say, triggering a power struggle within the already fractious movement at a time when IS is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan.
“This will be the Afghan Taliban’s biggest test yet,” said Michael Kugelman, an Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
“Mullah Omar, or the idea of Mullah Omar, was a unifying force for a deeply fractured organisation. This confirmation of his death will spark a messy, drawn-out, and likely violent leadership crisis,” Kugelman told AFP.
Insurgent sources say Omar’s son Mohammad Yakoub and current Taliban deputy Mullah Mansour are both top contenders to replace him, with the group expected to announce his successor soon.
Mullah Omar, lionised by his followers as Amir-ul-Momineen –- ‘commander of the faithful’ -– was seen not just a leader of a militant group, he was a spiritual guide who commanded the loyalties of militants across the region.
The gravitational pull of IS, renowned among jihadists for establishing an Islamic ‘Caliphate’ across a swath of Syria and Iraq, is only likely to grow if the appointed successor does not match his stature.
“It all depends on who takes over [as leader],” said Pakistan-based author and analyst Imtiaz Gul.
Unless “somebody of consensus is chosen as Amir-ul-Momineen… the Taliban movement is certainly headed for a split into many factions.”
Kugelman said Mullah Omar’s death was a “huge boon” for the local branch of IS, which a Pentagon report in June said is in an initial exploratory phase in Afghanistan.
“Many Taliban militants, already disaffected by the long silence of their leader, will now have even greater reason to reject their organisation and transfer their loyalties to IS,” he said.
“Mullah Omar’s death will be a very effective recruitment tool for IS, and could help it gain quite a few new recruits in a region where it is still struggling to make inroads.”
The Taliban warned IS recently against expanding in the region, but this has not stopped some fighters, inspired by the group’s success, defecting to swear allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi instead of the invisible Mullah Omar.
“The Taliban movement is facing the most difficult time of its existence,” Rahimullah Yousufzai, a Pakistan-based expert on Afghan affairs, told AFP.
He cited the example of Abdul Rauf Khadim, a Taliban renegade who raised the IS black flag in Helmand.
Believed to be the IS number two in the country, he was killed in a US drone strike earlier this year.
Many other Taliban figures “will follow Khadim’s example if they don’t see any future in this movement, if they disagree with the new leader and the direction of the peace talks”.
Some insurgents, particularly in the restive eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, have adopted the IS flag to rebrand themselves as a more lethal force as NATO troops depart after 14 years of war.
But the emergence in Afghanistan of IS, renowned for its beheadings and rein of brutality in the Middle East, is seen by some as more psychological warfare than a real threat.
The Taliban and IS don’t share much ideological ground. The Islamic State espouses a brand of Salafism at odds with the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam in Afghanistan.
And it is too early to write off the Taliban as a potent force, with the insurgency inexorably spreading across the north from its southern and eastern strongholds.
The insurgents seized a police base in the northern province of Badakshan on Sunday after more than 100 policemen surrendered, inflicting one of the heaviest blows to Afghan forces since the NATO combat mission ended in December.
“The death of Mullah Omar is definitely the end of an era in the history of Taliban and Afghanistan,” said Ali Mohammad Ali, a Kabul-based political and security analyst.
“His death will not affect the insurgency so greatly but politically the Taliban are handicapped. It’s really hard for them to find a successor who will match Mullah Omar.”

Fourteen people were wounded in an attack Friday by muslims rebels wielding grenade launchers and automatic weapon in Thailand’s war-torn Muslim-majority south, officials said.

The early morning attack on village security volunteers, a local protection force armed by the state against the muslims rebels, in Yala province left four seriously wounded, police told AFP.

“30-40 attacked a base in Yaha district at around 1 am … they fired grenade launchers first, then M16 machine guns. It lasted for around 30 minutes,” Tanongsak Wangsupha, police commander of Yala, one of Thailand’s four southernmost states which have been roiled by the decade-long war.

“The rebels want to re-assert their power as now villagers are co-operating with state authorities,” he said, adding the security volunteers were Muslim.

The simmering conflict pits shadowy Malay Muslim rebels against security forces from Thailand, which annexed the region more than a century ago.

More than 6,400 people have been killed since 2004, the majority Buddhist and Muslim civilians targeted for their perceived support for the Thai state.

Rebels have said they want a level of autonomy for the region, which borders Malaysia, accusing Thailand of widespread rights abuses – including extrajudicial killings – and railroading the distinct local culture with forced assimilation schemes.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, police and paramilitaries enforce security across the impoverished South.

Thailand also pays and arms thousands of village volunteers to provide their own security, especially in remote Muslim areas.

Last year the military government said it had distributed 2,700 assault rifles to volunteers to provide local level protection – a move seemingly at odds with peace overtures.

Thailand’s ruling junta says it wants peace and has made initial contacts with rebel leaders ahead of formal talks.

But observers say ongoing political uncertainty in Bangkok is likely to deter the rebels from committing to anything substantial – moreso as talks with the previous civilian government evaporated when the military seized power in May last year.

Analysts say the violence decreased for several months earlier this year, thanks to a mix of confidence building measures and a tightening of security, but has spiked in recent weeks.

Two soldiers were gunned down on July 17 and their bodies burnt in Narathiwat province, while seven people were killed in a series of bomb blasts across the region on July 11.

The Afghan Taliban are praising their new leader, saying he was one of the most “trusted” associates of the late Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Friday’s statement, sent to The Associated Press, says the new leader, Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansoor, has also been given the title of “Commander of the Faithful,” conferring on him the supreme status held by Mullah Omar.

It describes Mansoor as an “active director” of the jihad, or holy war, for some years.

The Taliban on Thursday confirmed that Mullah Omar died of an illness some time ago and said they elected Mansoor as his successor. The Afghan government announced Wednesday that the reclusive mullah had been dead since 2013.

The Taliban reacted by pulling out of peace talks that were scheduled to take place on Friday.

An Afghan official says two separate drone strikes in an eastern province bordering Pakistan have killed 20 militants affiliated with the Islamic State group.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, says the strikes took place late on Wednesday night. He says both took place in Haska Mina district near the border

Abdulzai says the district is adjacent to Pachi Agam district, where militants are active.

A statement from the U.S. military in Afghanistan confirmed a “kinetic strike” in Nangarhar against what it says were “individuals threatening the force.”

Abdulzai says no civilians were killed or wounded.

Nangarhar has seen heavy fighting in recent months between militants purported to be from the Taliban and the Islamic State group, battling for control of trade routes.

As usual reports have emerged from Pakistan suggesting the Taliban group in Afghanistan has appointed the successor of the former Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The reports citing well-informed sources added that a meeting of the Taliban supreme council (Shura) was called on Wednesday to appoint successor of Mullah Omar.

The report further added that Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor was unanimously appointed as the new supreme leader of the Taliban group in Afghanistan to succeed Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The Taliban group in Afghanistan has not confirmed or rejected reports regarding the death of group’s supreme leader so far, although the reports have been independently confirmed by ARG presidential palace and White House.

Reports regarding the death of Mullah Omar emerged earlier yesterday suggesting Pakistan have confirmed the death of Mullah Mohammad Omar to the Afghan government.

The issue was reportedly discussed during the cabinet meeting following the confirmation by Pakistani authorities, it has been reported.

However, the Presidential Palace formally confirmed Mullah Omar’s death citing credible sources confirming Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban died in April 2013 in Pakistan.

Officials in White House also said Wednesday that reports suggesting the death of Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammad are credible.

The White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said the United States has concluded that reports confirming Mullah Omar’s death are credible.

At least 10 villages in the Aqtash area of Khanabad district in Kunduz province have been cleared of Taliban, officials said Thursday.

Kunduz police chief Abdul Saboor Nasrati, said that troops on Wednesday started clearing out the insurgents in Basos and Kuhna Qala in Aqtash. He said in total ten villages had been cleared of Taliban.

During the clearing operation 10 Taliban were killed and five others were wounded, Nasrati said.

The clearing operation is still on going, Nasrati added.

This comes after Taliban insurgents reportedly seized control of as many as 80 villages on Monday night in northern Kunduz province, officials said.

Afghan security officials believe however that the war increased in the north and east of the country after insurgent groups came over the border from Waziristan in Pakistan.

Concerns have however been raised over why Afghanistan did nothing to prevent the problem after Pakistan military forces launched an operation to clear insurgents from Waziristan.