Afghan and NATO officials say airstrike in northern Afghanistan killed local Taliban commander

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Northern Afghan airstrike kills 8 militants

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. airstrike killed eight militants including a local Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan officials said Sunday.

The battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been expanding increasingly to the whole country, with insurgent cells operating and launching attacks in the west and north, making combatting the insurgency more complex amid the replacement of the top commander in the war.

Violence also has been on an upswing in the always-volatile south in recent weeks, with deaths reported daily. In the latest incident, a U.S. service member was killed in a bomb attack in the south, said Col. Wayne Shanks, a U.S. forces spokesman.

June has become the deadliest month of the war for NATO troops with at least 91 killed, 54 of them American. For U.S. troops, the deadliest month was October 2009, with a toll of 59 dead.

Saturday’s airstrike in Kunduz province was called in on a group of insurgents who were meeting in a field in an unpopulated part of Chahar Darah district, NATO said in a statement. The area, called Baghi Shirkat, is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Kunduz city.

Afghan officials said a Taliban commander who helped smuggle weapons was among the dead, NATO said.

Eight militants were killed in all, said Abdul Rahman Aqtash, the deputy provincial police chief. No civilians were injured, NATO said.

Meanwhile, another eight militants were killed in a NATO-Afghan military operation in eastern Ghazni province, according to Gen. Khail Buz Sherzai, the provincial police chief.

In Kabul, NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said about 130 middle- to senior-level Taliban insurgents have been killed or captured in the past four months.

NATO and U.S. forces are continuing operations as they await the arrival of new commander Gen. David Petraeus. He is taking over from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was ousted by President Barack Obama after he and his aides were quoted in Rolling Stone magazine making disparaging remarks about top Obama administration officials.

Blotz said Petraeus would be in Kabul soon but gave no date. He said the pace of operations would not change despite the shake-up in the command.

“We will not miss a beat in our operations to expand security here in Afghanistan,” Blotz said.

The top American military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, flew to Afghanistan on Saturday to assure President Hamid Karzai that Petraeus would pursue the policies of his predecessor, including efforts to reduce civilian casualties.

Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt in Kabul contributed to this report.