KABUL
A U.S. predator plane killed six Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, Afghan authorities said.
A prominent Taliban commander was also killed; he was responsible for most of the terrorist activities in the region and organizing attacks on national forces.
According to provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the drone fired a missile at an insurgent hideout overnight, killing six militants including a prominent commander in the Traily area of Chaparhar district.
“A U.S. drone fired missiles at a Taliban militant hideout overnight killing a group of militants, including their commander in Traily area of Chaparhar district,” Mashriqiwal said.
No civilian casualties were reported in the incident. Civilian casualties and airstrikes by NATO and U.S. forces have been a controversial issue between the Afghan government and international troops.
In a similar incident, an airstrike by international forces on a house in eastern Logar province on Friday killed at least five civilians.
Almost 50 percent of drone strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan have been conducted in the eastern provinces which share a border with Pakistan.
The drone strikes are being carried out from a base established by U.S. military forces in eastern Nangarhar.
There are no records of annual drone strikes in Afghanistan, but the U.S. has reportedly conducted most of its attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where international coalition forces have recently increased their drone strikes on Taliban sanctuaries.
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