Key Afghan militants seized, killed

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- NATO forces in Afghanistan have killed or seized 33 high-level militants, many of them senior Taliban leaders, authorities said.

Twenty-six militants were captured and eight killed, including Mullah Farid Fazil Lang, who led a cell that made roadside bombs, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a release Saturday.

Lang was also involved in the kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde, who was abducted outside Kabul in November 2008 and escaped from Taliban captivity in Pakistan in June, CNN reported.

The 33 high-level militants were captured or killed between Aug. 20 and Oct. 17.

Among those seized were Taliban commander Karim Shakan and Matiullah, a former Afghan national police officer who was accused of passing security information to the Taliban, the force said.

Shakan assisted in the "movement and use" of improvised explosive devices and recruited Afghans for the Taliban, the force said.