Afghan, Coalition Troops Find Narcotics Cache

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2010 — Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force troops found and secured a large amount of nar­cotics dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion in the Achin dis­trict of Nan­garhar province today.

As the group entered the tar­get vil­lage, they saw sev­er­al peo­ple flee­ing the area with bags. Some of the bags were dropped in haste to elude the patrol. The com­bined force found nar­cotics inside the bags. 

Dur­ing a search of the area the force dis­cov­ered 30 kilo­grams of pack­aged hero­in, 20 kilo­grams of opi­um paste, 80 liters of chem­i­cals used to process opi­um and five rifles. The nar­cotics, chem­i­cals and weapons were destroyed on site. In oth­er Afghanistan news today, Afghan and coali­tion forces killed at least 15 insur­gents in a fire­fight after insur­gents attempt­ed to set up an attack posi­tion in the Tsowkey dis­trict of Kunar province. After pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fy­ing insur­gents set­ting up what has been known as a his­tor­i­cal attack posi­tion in the area, an air weapons team engaged them, result­ing in 15 insur­gents killed. Ini­tial reports indi­cate all rounds were on tar­get, and there were no injuries to civil­ians in the area. In yesterday’s Afghanistan news: 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces spent the month of Sep­tem­ber con­tin­u­ing to cap­ture and kill key Tal­iban and Haqqani insur­gent lead­ers, ensur­ing civil­ians were able to cast their vote in the par­lia­men­tary elec­tions and clear­ing tra­di­tion­al insur­gent strong holds. Sep­tem­ber marked a total of more than 438 sus­pect­ed insur­gents detained and 114 insur­gents killed in secu­ri­ty force oper­a­tions. The secu­ri­ty force cap­tured or killed more than 105 Haqqani Net­work and Tal­iban lead­ers. These lead­er­ship fig­ures include shad­ow gov­er­nors, lead­ers, sub-lead­ers and weapons facil­i­ta­tors. Afghan and coali­tion forces com­plet­ed 194 mis­sions, 88 per­cent of them with­out shots fired. Dur­ing those oper­a­tions, more than 1,000 women and more than 1,750 chil­dren were protected. 

— Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources and tips from local civil­ians led Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Forces to a com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with an insur­gent leader and impro­vised explo­sive device expert dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province. As the strike force pre­pared to enter the tar­get area, sev­er­al armed insur­gents were seen run­ning into a tun­nel sys­tem used by insur­gents to for­mu­late a defense of the com­pound. They were seen tak­ing up fir­ing posi­tions and were prepar­ing to engage the strike force from a flank­ing posi­tion. The strike force then engaged the armed insur­gents using pre­ci­sion fire, killing two. The com­bined force then moved to clear the tar­get com­pound. At the first build­ing they called-out to the occu­pants, giv­ing them a chance to come out peace­ful­ly. An insur­gent and a woman exit­ed the build­ing. When the insur­gent moved quick­ly into the shad­ow of the build­ing, retrieved a weapon and attempt­ed to engage the strike force they shot and killed him. When the com­bined force searched the build­ing, they found numer­ous rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and launch­ers in the room the insur­gent had exit­ed. Fol­low­ing this engage­ment, three men, four women and six chil­dren exit­ed a build­ing in anoth­er part of the com­pound. They told the patrol of a num­ber of Tal­iban fight­ers were stay­ing in a sep­a­rate part of the com­pound. As the force moved through the com­pound, they dis­cov­ered a cache of RPGs, four AK-47s and numer­ous explo­sives. They con­tin­ued to call out to the inhab­i­tants, result­ing in anoth­er man, woman and sev­en chil­dren exit­ing. The women and chil­dren were protected. 

While clear­ing yet anoth­er build­ing in the com­pound, the force dis­cov­ered two live IEDs — 104 mm shells wired to explode. Anoth­er suc­cess­ful call-out led to three men, six women and nine chil­dren leav­ing the build­ing. All weapons and explo­sives were destroyed on site by the com­bined force. The tar­get of the search is a senior Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor linked to the plan­ning and facil­i­tat­ing of sui­cide attacks. He also pro­cures and dis­trib­utes IED com­po­nents and weapons, acts as a Tal­iban pay­mas­ter to senior lead­ers, is a tac­ti­cal instruc­tor and pro­cures poi­sons for insur­gent use. 

— Coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered more than 1,100 kilo­grams of ammo­ni­um nitrate in the court­yard of a com­pound in the Arghandab dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. Coali­tion forces esti­mate more than 50 impro­vised explo­sive devices could have been made with the amount of banned mate­r­i­al dis­cov­ered. “This is a sig­nif­i­cant find in a key area of Kan­da­har province,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Tor­res, Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor. “It takes a large num­ber of poten­tial IEDs out of the hands of the insur­gents whose indis­crim­i­nate use of IEDs endan­gers inno­cent Afghan civil­ians as well as Afghan and coali­tion forces.” 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed a Haqqani Net­work senior leader who sup­plied and coor­di­nat­ed attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces along with six insur­gents in Khost province. He was also direct­ly involved in the plan­ning and coor­di­na­tion of the foiled late-August attacks against For­ward Oper­at­ing Bases Saler­no and Chap­man. The failed attack result­ed in more than 30 Haqqani insur­gents killed. No Afghan or coali­tion forces were killed in the attack. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in Ter­ayzai, where the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual stopped after return­ing from Pak­istan. As the com­bined secu­ri­ty force began clear­ing the tar­get­ed com­pound, sev­er­al insur­gents inside one of the build­ings threat­ened the secu­ri­ty force with auto­mat­ic weapons and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. The secu­ri­ty force engaged them, killing the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual and his Haqqani asso­ciates. Upon fur­ther inspec­tion of the build­ing, the secu­ri­ty force found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, hand grenades, mag­a­zines and ammu­ni­tion, along with a rifle and impro­vised explo­sive device com­po­nents inside the build­ing. After the area was secure, the secu­ri­ty force searched the area dis­cov­er­ing mul­ti­ple RPG rounds and mag­a­zines, along with a machine gun, hand grenade, knife and IED com­po­nents in a vehi­cle out­side the build­ing. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing of the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent. The secu­ri­ty force pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent in Zab­ul province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban leader who facil­i­tates and con­ducts impro­vised explo­sive device attacks along High­way 1, a heav­i­ly trav­elled high­way used by Afghan civil­ians. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound north­east of Kala in Qalat dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the com­bined force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons and they pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani Net­work facil­i­ta­tor, known to endan­ger the Afghan pop­u­lace through his indis­crim­i­nate impro­vised explo­sive device attacks, in Khost province. He also pro­vid­ed sup­port to Tal­iban insur­gents oper­at­ing in the area. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the Bak dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the com­bined force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the facil­i­ta­tor along with three of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force also found an auto­mat­ic weapon, ammu­ni­tion and a hand grenade at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons and they pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured a Tal­iban senior leader based in the Pan­jwa’i dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual facil­i­tat­ed weapons, impro­vised explo­sive device com­po­nents, train­ing and bed-down loca­tions for Tal­iban lead­er­ship. His actions con­tin­u­ous­ly endan­gered the Afghan peo­ple liv­ing in and around the city of Kan­da­har. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tracked the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual trav­el­ing in a vehi­cle south­east of the city of Kan­da­har. Afghan and coali­tion forces inter­dict­ed the vehi­cle peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the senior leader. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons. 

Source:
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases 

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