Afghanistan — Combined Forces Kill Insurgents, Detain Numerous Suspects

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2010 — Part­nered Afghan and coali­tion forces killed an unde­ter­mined num­ber of insur­gents and detained numer­ous sus­pects in recent oper­a­tions, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

In oper­a­tions overnight: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force tar­get­ing a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for the move­ment of weapons and fight­ers in the Ziruk dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province killed sev­er­al insur­gents and detained sev­er­al sus­pects in an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual also enables com­mu­ni­ca­tions with­in the net­work and com­mands a group of low­er-lev­el fight­ers, offi­cials said. Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, sev­er­al armed insur­gents fired at the secu­ri­ty force. Afghan and coali­tion forces returned fire. An ini­tial assess­ment indi­cat­ed that sev­er­al insur­gents were killed, but the secu­ri­ty force was unable to con­duct a full assess­ment of the area, offi­cials said. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force con­tin­u­ing its search for a Tal­iban senior leader and key financier oper­at­ing in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion in the province’s Wash­er dis­trict. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual plans and con­ducts ambush attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and han­dles financ­ing for insur­gents oper­at­ing in the dis­trict, offi­cials said. The secu­ri­ty force found and destroyed 300 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a banned fer­til­iz­er that can be used to make explosives. 

— In Kan­da­har province a com­bined secu­ri­ty force search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who coor­di­nates vehi­cle-borne bomb attacks detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion in the province’s Kan­da­har district. 

In ear­li­er operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol killed two insur­gents and detained 11 sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province yes­ter­day. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources and tips from local res­i­dents led secu­ri­ty forces to a com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with a Tal­iban bomb-attack facil­i­ta­tor. After the patrol sur­round­ed the com­pound, Afghan forces received no response when they called for occu­pants to come out peace­ful­ly. Afghan forces entered the first build­ing and were con­front­ed by two armed men. The men failed to respond to sev­er­al ver­bal warn­ings and were killed. Eleven men were detained, includ­ing a man who tried to dis­guise him­self as a woman. 

— Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials con­firmed that Fedayi, a senior Tal­iban mil­i­tary leader who con­duct­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and intim­i­da­tion cam­paigns against Afghan civil­ians and gov­ern­ment offi­cials was among sev­er­al insur­gents killed in a pre­ci­sion airstrike in Bagh­lan province Oct. 19. ISAF offi­cials also con­firmed that Tan­hah, a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader, was among the armed insur­gents killed dur­ing an Oct. 19operation in Pak­ti­ka province. 

— Afghan-led forces under the guid­ance of Afghan Bor­der Police Com­man­der Brig. Gen. Abdul Raz­iq Achekzai killed more than 20 insur­gents dur­ing an Oct. 14–16 clear­ing oper­a­tion con­duct­ed in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict. The oper­a­tion also net­ted five road­side bombs, neu­tral­ized three hous­es that were boo­by-trapped to explode and destroyed mul­ti­ple ene­my tun­nel and bunker sys­tems, offi­cials said. An Afghan Nation­al Civ­il Order Police brigade, Afghan Nation­al Police offi­cers and mem­bers of Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Force South also were involved in the operation. 

In oth­er news, a school bus car­ry­ing female stu­dents hit an insur­gent-plant­ed road­side bomb, killing nine peo­ple and wound­ing 10 oth­ers, in Nim­roz province’s Khash Rod dis­trict yesterday. 

Eight of the nine peo­ple killed were chil­dren. An ISAF heli­copter evac­u­at­ed three Afghan civil­ians to a coali­tion hos­pi­tal for treatment. 

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

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