US military: Top Taliban rebel leader killed in Khost

US military officials have announced the killing of a top Taliban military leader, Malawi Abdul Manan, along with several of his associates in eastern Khost province. It was not immediately known if Abdul Manan is on the newly created Afghan "Most Wanted" list drafted up by the US military.

According to the statement, Afghan army soldiers observed a small band of Taliban infiltrating over the border into Khost’s Spira district on October 28. After setting up an ambush, Afghan forces ‘engaged the fighters with small-arms fire, and killed several, including the infamous Abdul Manan.’

The statement identified Manan’s responsibilities as leading a ‘large contingent of militants’ and was ‘responsible for the movement of both insurgent fighters and weapons across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.’ His area of operations covered Paktia, Paktika, and Khost provinces.

“The death of Abdul Manan is a tremendous blow for the enemy and a great success by the Afghan national security forces here in Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman.

News of the operation coincides with a deadly raid in Nangarhar province that left two children dead and an adult woman and a child wounded. The suspected target of the raid, an unidentified militant suspected of building roadside bombs, was also killed during the assault.

Meanwhile, another Taliban commander identified as Mullah Abdul Qayum, was arrested along with 17 of his men in northern Badghis province. Although traditionally not a Taliban stronghold, hostilities have increased in Badghis throughout the year. (See Afgha.com's Taliban spread their wings into Badghis, ‘Badlands of the North’)

In a newly released videotape, Taliban commander Shah Masnoor Dadullah threatened to prolong the Taliban military offensive deep into the winter and warned that northern provinces will be attacked.