TOLOnews 10 June 2012

Top news in this Bulletin:

The Taliban on Tuesday strongly rejected Afghan President Hamid Karzai's statement in Tokyo that the Taliban had agreed to start talks with his government.

Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahed denied the claim, saying that a delegation of the Taliban had attended a research conference on Afghanistan at Doshisha University of Japan's Kyoto city, but never negotiated with the Afghan government nor agreed to do so.

An Afghan-led military operation in eastern Laghman province killed a high-ranking local Taliban commander and bomb-making expert, a statement from the provincial governor said Tuesday.

The clearing operation also captured five other insurgents, it said.

Afghanistan Independent Election Commission's (IEC) Chief Electoral Officer Abdullah Ahmadzai resigned from his post for personal reasons, a spokesman for the commission said Tuesday.

Ahmadzai, appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai on May 2010, had "served the country honestly and faithfully", a statement issued by the secretariat of the IEC said today.