NATO Claims Capture Of An IMU Leader In Afghanistan

NATO says its forces captured a leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in Afghanistan's northern Konduz Province.

NATO said in a statement that the IMU leader was captured along with two associates in the Khanabad district during a military operation on April 20.

The statement did not give the IMU leader's name but did say he had escaped from an Afghan jail in 2010.

The IMU fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 but U.S. strikes crippled the group, which then fled to Pakistan's tribal areas.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group has recently reemerged and elements of IMU forces have been active in Konduz Province, which borders Tajikistan.

compiled from agency reports