Taliban commander killed, three arrested in N Afghanistan

KABUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban militant commander was killed and three others detained in Takhar province, north of Afghanistan as they came in contact with police Wednesday night, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.

"A group of armed militants attacked police forces in Dasht-e-Qala and police returned fire, as a result militants' group commander Jamal was killed and three others detained," Ziauddin Mahmoodi told Xinhua.

Jamal was believed to be responsible for providing and transferring weapons to militants.

"Some 35 RPG rocket propel, a machine gun, over 200 AK-47 bullets were also seized by police," the official added.

No causalities were reported on police, Mahmoodi further said.

Takhar and neighboring Kunduz, relatively peaceful provinces in north until last year, has been the scene of growing Taliban-linked insurgency over the past several months.

Taliban militants have been attempted to infiltrate in Northern provinces as NATO forces recently used northern part of the post-Taliban country as a new corridor to their military convoys.