Afghan authorities displayed the body of slain Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah as the Taliban named his younger brother as his replacement.
Still, Afghan and NATO officials allowed themselves a measure of satisfaction on Sunday at the killing of Mullah Dadullah, otherwise known as the "Butcher of Kandahar."
"Mullah Dadullah was the backbone of the Taliban," said Asadullah Khalid, governor of Kandahar province. "He was a brutal and cruel commander who killed and beheaded Afghan civilians.
"My people, Afghan people, international community workers ... will be safe from his killings now."
Many of those killings, including beheadings, were captured on video and sold in Afghan bazaars on DVD.
Dadullah's one-legged body was displayed in Khalid's official residence, covered by a pink sheet. There were three bullet wounds -- two to the torso, and one to the back of the head.
A statement by the International Stabilization Assistance Force said: "(Dadullah) has been responsible for the deaths of many Afghans through many means, to include the suicide bombers he has trained in his sanctuary and subsequently deployed into Afghanistan."
The 'sanctuary' is considered a reference to Pakistan.
Maj. Steve Graham -- commander of Reconnaissance Squadron with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, operating near Spin Boldak to the southwest of Kandahar City -- called it "great news. They texted it straight to my cellphone."
Dadullah, whose full name is Dadullah Akhund, died Saturday night in a clash with NATO and Afghan troops in the southern province of Helmand.
He was attacked as he left his sister's home in Kakar.
Dadullah, an ethnic Pashtun who lost his leg fighting the Soviets in the 1980s, would be the highest-ranking Taliban official killed since the 2001 invasion. CTV's Steve Chao said there is a feeling of "jubilation" among troops.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Peshawar, Pakistan-based editor for the The News newspaper and an expert on the Taliban, said Dadullah's shoes would be difficult to fill.
"I think this is the biggest loss for the Taliban in the last six years," Yusufzai told the Associated Press. "I don't think they can find someone as daring and as important as Dadullah."
His bloodthirstiness may also be tough to replace. Dadullah led a Taliban massacre of ethnic Hazaras in Bamiyan province in 1999. Even Mullah Omar, the Taliban's spiritual leader, had to sometimes urge his lieutenant to show some restraint.
The Taliban have named Mullah Bakht as Dadullah's replacement. However, little is known about him. Analysts can't say whether he will prove to be as fierce a fighter, as competent a strategist or as charismatic a leader as his older brother.
Author and terrorism expert Eric Margolis told Newsnet that while the killing of Dadullah is a major development, one shouldn't hope too much that it will deflate the overall insurgency.
"We have to be careful about personalizing wars," he said.
The Americans rejoiced when they killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, in June 2006. However, the violence there has actually increased, he said.
"I would suspect in spite of the death of Mullah Dadullah, the fighting will intensify (in Afghanistan)."
Graham, who spent months battling the Taliban in the Panjwaii and Zhari districts, had this perspective: "Will we wake up tomorrow and everything will be different? I don't know."
With a report from CTV's Steve Chao and files from The Canadian Press
