KABUL — Afghan special forces and NATO troops have killed a senior commander of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in northwestern Afghanistan, the NATO force said on Tuesday.

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The IMU - which emerged from the Ferghana Valley that is shared between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - has cooperated with al Qaeda elements and the Afghan Taliban to try to establish an Islamic Caliphate.

Makhdum Nusrat, the "highest-ranking IMU insurgent operating in the country", was killed on Monday in Faryab province in northwestern Afghanistan along with several other fighters, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

ISAF said Makhdum was wanted for attacks against coalition forces and for plotting to kill an Afghan member of parliament.

There was no independent confirmation of his killing nor his standing within the IMU.

The group is believed to be active in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. With many of its supporters holed up in lawless ethnic Pashtun areas of northwest Pakistan, the group has forged close links with al Qaeda.