NATO kills eight insurgents in Afghan operations

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addresses media at the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Saturday. Ms. Napolitano said she would send more U.S. experts to train Afghan police and customs officials to better manage the country's porous border crossings. Photo: AP.

NATO says it has killed at least eight insurgents and captured a Taliban leader in several operations throughout Afghanistan.

The coalition said on Saturday that five of the insurgents were killed a day earlier in an operation targeting a Taliban leader in the northern Kunduz province. It was unclear whether the Taliban leader was among those killed or detained.

In the Taliban’s traditional southern stronghold of Kandahar, NATO launched two airstrikes targeting a Taliban militant involved in a December 12 suicide car bombing that killed three insurgents. It was unclear if the militant was killed or escaped.

In a third operation, NATO said it captured a Taliban leader in the central province of Wardak.