KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan Special Unit and coalition troops conducted an operation in Shirin Tagab district, Faryab province, yesterday to detain Makhdum Nusrat, the senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader in Afghanistan.
During the operation, insurgents fired on the combined security force. The force returned fire, killing Makhdum and several additional IMU insurgents. Two other insurgents were detained along with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, multiple rockets, several AK-47s and a number of grenades.
Makhdum was the highest-ranking IMU insurgent operating in the country. He led attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout the northern provinces for the last eight months and was plotting the assassination of an Afghan Parliament member in Kabul.
The IMU is a terrorist organization closely linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It conducts insurgent attacks in the northern region of Afghanistan among other countries in Central Asia.