( AP ) - U.S. airstrikes targeting a meeting of Taliban leaders killed a commander who orchestrated the kidnappings of 23 South Koreans, Afghan officials said Tuesday.
Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander of Qara Bagh district in Ghazni province, was among the 12 killed in the strike on a mud-brick housing compound overnight, said Ghazni provincial police chief Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai.
Mansoor watched as his fighters stopped and kidnapped a tour bus full of South Koreans in July, Ahmadzai said. Officials previously said they had killed another commander behind the kidnappings, a Mullah Mateen, but Ahmadzai said Jan was higher-ranking.
There was no immediate comment from either the U.S. military or NATO's International Security Assistance Force.