Afghanistan arrests 2 Haqqani militant group commanders
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Afghan security forces said Thursday they have captured two senior leaders of the feared Haqqani network, a hardline group behind sophisticated attacks on Afghan and NATO forces.
Anas Haqqani, the son of the network's founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, was arrested late Tuesday along with Hafiz Rashid, another commander, by the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Afghan intelligence agency, officials said.
"We hope that these two arrests will have direct consequences on the network and their centre of command," NDS spokesman Haseeb Sediqi told AFP.
Anas played an important role in the network's "strategic decision-making" and frequently travelled to Gulf states to get funding, Sediqi said.
A statement from the NDS described Anas as having special computing skills and said he was "one of the masterminds of this network in making propaganda through social networks."
The Haqqanis have been blamed for attacks on Afghan government and NATO targets across Afghanistan as well as for kidnappings and murders.
The Haqqani network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani an Afghan guerrilla leader bankrolled by the United States to fight Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Now in his 70s and frail, he is believed to live with his family in Pakistan.
In the 1980s Jalaluddin was close to the CIA and Pakistani intelligence. He allied himself to the Taliban after they took power in Kabul in 1996, serving as a cabinet minister under the militia's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
When American troops arrived after the 9/11 attacks, Haqqani sought refuge in Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan and became one of the first anti-US commanders based in the border areas.
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Afghanistan arrests 2 Haqqani militant group commanders