US Kills Militant Said Linked to Iran's Quds Force

An Afghan youth who was injured in an explosion lies on a bed at a hospital in Asadabad, the...

An Afghan youth who was injured in an explosion lies on a bed at a hospital in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 9, 2009. The explosion in a crowded bazaar near a convoy of U.S. troops in northeastern Afghanistan killed one Afghan child Tuesday and wounded about 50 people, many of them children, officials said. Three U.S. troops were wounded in the blast. (AP Photo)

(AP)

The U.S. military on Wednesday said an airstrike in western Afghanistan killed a militant commander with reported links to Iran's elite military Quds Force. An Afghan official said fighting elsewhere killed 30 Taliban.

The airstrike Tuesday in the western province of Ghor targeted a warlord named Mullah Mustafa, whom the U.S. military said was responsible for attacks on a nearby highway. The military said 16 of Mustafa's men were also killed.

The U.S. said Mustafa commanded about 100 fighters and "reportedly had connections to" the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, which is known to train Shiite militants from Middle Eastern countries.

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said that the military was not implying that Mustafa had links with Iran's government, but that individual militants in Afghanistan may have links with individual militants in Iran.

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"We're not implying with this release that Iran the state is supporting the Taliban," Sidenstricker said. "Our intelligence suggests that Mustafa has relations with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force."

Sidenstricker said she could not provide any more details for security reasons, including whether Mustafa had gotten weapons, training or fighters from the Quds Force.

The strike was likely carried out by an American Special Operations Forces team, although Sidenstricker said she didn't know what force carried out the strike and could not say.

An official in Ghor, deputy Gov. Karimuddin Rezazada, said Mustafa had links with the Taliban and was behind a string of attacks on the highway.

Taliban extremists are Sunni and have in the past been opposed to Iran's government.

Rezazada said that Mustafa was a Sunni Muslim, not a Shiite Muslim like most Iranians. Asked whether Mustafa had links with the Quds Brigade, Rezazada said: "Maybe yes, maybe no. We're not aware of that."

Western officials have previously accused militants in Iran of supplying militants in Afghanistan with weapons, but no top U.S. official has accused Iran's government of supporting the Taliban.