KABUL, Afghanistan, September 18, SPA -- U.S. air strikes targeting a meeting of Taliban leaders killed a high-ranking commander involved in the kidnappings of 23 South Koreans two months ago, Afghan officials said Tuesday. Meanwhile, NATO reported that another of its soldiers haddied in an explosion in Afghanistan, where violence hassoared this year amid a Taliban-led insurgency. Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander of Qara Baghdistrict in Ghazni province, was among 12 killed in thestrike on a mud-brick housing compound overnight inneighboring Giro district, said Ghazni provincial policechief Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai. The U.S.-led coalition said «several» suspectedmilitants were killed and four detained during an operationin Giro that included gunfire and airstrikes, but it couldnot immediately confirm that Jan was killed, the Associated Press reported.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/483674