Afghanistan — Air Strike Targets Haqqani Leader

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2010 — Coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike in Afghanistan’s Khost province today tar­get­ing a senior Haqqani ter­ror­ist leader who directs attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and reports direct­ly to Haqqani Net­work senior lead­er­ship, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The tar­get­ed man also estab­lished ene­my posi­tions to tar­get coali­tion air­craft, offi­cials said. 

Based on intel­li­gence reports, coali­tion forces tracked the senior leader to a remote area in the province’s Nadir Shah Kot dis­trict. After ver­i­fy­ing insur­gent activ­i­ty and ensur­ing no civil­ians were present, coali­tion forces con­duct­ed the pre­ci­sion air strike, killing one insurgent. 

Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials are gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion to assess the results of the strike. 

In oth­er news from Afghanistan: 

— A part­nered Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing the Tal­iban shad­ow gov­er­nor for Kan­da­har province detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents today. Intel­li­gence tips led the com­bined force to a series of com­pounds in the Spin Boldak dis­trict to search for the shad­ow gov­er­nor. A group of sus­pect­ed insur­gents, some armed and wear­ing masks, tried to escape, and the secu­ri­ty force pur­sued and detained them peace­ful­ly. The secu­ri­ty force found 500 pounds of mar­i­jua­na, bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, auto­mat­ic weapons, grenades, rock­et-pro­pelled grenade boost­ers and a sig­nif­i­cant amount of assault-rifle ammu­ni­tion at the scene and detained more than 10 sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force today cap­tured a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for mor­tar attacks on For­ward Oper­at­ing Base Shank and direct-fire attacks on coali­tion forces oper­at­ing in Log­ar province’s Bara­ki Barak dis­trict, along with two of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force also found and destroyed a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade and boost­er dur­ing the intel­li­gence-dri­ven operation. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader who han­dles recon­nais­sance for the Tal­iban net­work oper­at­ing in Pak­ti­ka province’s Yahya Khel dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion today. 

—– In Khost province’s Shamul dis­trict today, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for mov­ing sup­plies and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als for dis­tri­b­u­tion to for­eign fight­ers and Haqqani-affil­i­at­ed networks. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces today detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a mul­ti-day clear­ing oper­a­tion aimed at dis­rupt­ing the Taliban’s free­dom of move­ment in Kan­da­har province’s Khakrez dis­trict. The oper­a­tion began Oct. 26 and end­ed today. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict today, a local civil­ian brought six 155 mm emp­ty shell cas­ings to an ISAF com­pound and told coali­tion forces the loca­tion of addi­tion­al weapons. Afghan and coali­tion forces went to the loca­tion and recov­ered three road­side bombs, a grenade, hun­dreds of 7.62 mm rounds, two mor­tar rounds and a volt­age meter. 

— Also in Zharay today, Afghan and coali­tion forces found about 30 pres­sure plates and charges. Exploita­tion of that site con­tin­ues, offi­cials said. Else­where in the dis­trict, an Afghan and coali­tion patrol found three 100-pound bags of home­made explosives. 

— In Kandahar’s Arghandab dis­trict, coali­tion forces found three jugs of home­made explo­sives, three rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, numer­ous 7.62 mm rounds and a blast­ing cap. 

Offi­cials said Afghan and coali­tion forces pro­tect­ed any women and chil­dren present dur­ing the operations. 

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

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