Top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was killed in southern Afghanistan, governor of the southern Kandahar province said Sunday.

Standing beside a body allegedly that of Dadullah, governor Assadullah Khalid told reporters that Afghan and NATO troops conducted an operation on a tip-off to kill Dadullah.

Dadullah was killed in Helmand province on Saturday, an Afghan officer from the National Directorate of Security told Xinhua anonymously, adding his body had been carried to the neighboring Kandahar province.

The face showed the killed man apparently was Dadullah, according to a Xinhua reporter at the site.

The one-legged Dadullah was believed to be behind a series of kidnappings of foreigners and Afghans in southern Afghanistan recently and order to behead several innocent civilians.

He was a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council before the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, and was also a close aide to Mullah Omar, the top Taliban leader.

The killing of Dadullah would be a big blow to Taliban rebels fighting Afghan and foreign forces in this insurgent country, officials say.

Due to rising Taliban-linked insurgency, over 1,200 persons, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

Source: Xinhua