US airstrike kills Taliban shadow governor in Afghanistan sought since 2011

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U.S. officials said Saturday that a Taliban “shadow governor” was killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan as part of the effort to deny “Taliban freedom-of-movement” in the region.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Quari Tayib was known as the “shadow governor” of Takhar province. He was killed in a strike in Archi District in the Kunduz province on April 17, the statement said.

Tayib had been a target of interest in 2011 and was directly responsible for the deaths of U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan, officials said.

According to The Guardian, Taliban shadow governors are responsible for directing insurgents fighting in Afghanistan. They work with more freedom in areas where Kabul does not have control. Two other Taliban shadow governors were killed in separate U.S. airstrikes earlier this year.

The U.S. said no other casualties were reported in the strike.

The announcement of the airstrike comes after Taliban militants killed more than 100 Afghanistan soldiers in a brazen attack Saturday. The gunmen dressed as soldiers and stormed a military compound. The attackers, in two separate military vehicles, had told guards at the gates that they were carrying wounded soldiers and therefore immediately needed to enter the site, according to Reuters.