Afghan, Coalition Forces Detain Insurgents, Find Caches

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2010 — Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents, found weapons and uncov­ered drug caches dur­ing oper­a­tions today in south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Forces detained the sus­pect dur­ing a com­bined foot patrol in Kapisa province, just north of Kab­ul. He is believed to be involved in a cache of rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, rifles and mon­ey recent­ly found in the province’s Tagab dis­trict.

Addi­tion­al caches were found in Hel­mand province’s San­gin and Mar­jeh dis­tricts. Bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, includ­ing sev­er­al mor­tar rounds, pres­sure plates, rifles, small-arms muni­tions and 120 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate were tak­en into coali­tion cus­tody to be destroyed. The patrols also con­fis­cat­ed more than 800 pounds of mar­i­jua­na and three pounds of opi­um. In oper­a­tions last night: 

— Com­bined Afghan and coali­tion forces in Pak­tiya province killed two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban mem­bers after the two threat­ened them when they arrived to search a com­pound in the Zur­mat dis­trict. One of the two armed men was Fared Gul, who is believed respon­si­ble for road­side bombs and ambush­es on coali­tion con­voys and air­craft, offi­cials report­ed. The force detained sev­er­al oth­er sus­pects and destroyed mul­ti­ple weapons caches in place. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— In Hel­mand province, com­bined forces cap­tured sev­er­al sus­pect­ed mil­i­tants, includ­ing two alleged Tal­iban lead­ers. One was detained in the Now Zad dis­trict and is believed respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing direct- and indi­rect-fire attacks and road­side bomb­ings on Afghan and coali­tion troops. The sec­ond man was cap­tured in the Lashkar Gah dis­trict and alleged­ly is linked to a bomb­ing cell in Kandahar. 

— In Khost province, Afghan and coali­tion forces in mul­ti­ple oper­a­tions detained numer­ous sus­pects alleged­ly con­nect­ed to a Haqqani Net­work impro­vised explo­sive device cell. — In Kan­da­har province, com­bined forces seized near­ly 1,000 pounds of opi­um in the Mai­wand dis­trict dur­ing a vehi­cle inter­dic­tion oper­a­tion. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence reports from local res­i­dents led to the operation. 

In oper­a­tions Nov. 20: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed a Tal­iban leader in Farah province’s Bak­wah dis­trict. Mul­lah Hafiz Janan was the district’s shad­ow gov­er­nor and known for traf­fick­ing, train­ing and sup­port­ing for­eign fight­ers. Janan and an asso­ciate were shot and killed after threat­en­ing the coali­tion force with small-arms. Sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained. 

— Anoth­er Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for road­side bomb and small-arms attacks on coali­tion and Afghan troops was cap­tured dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Log­ar province’s Bara­ki Barak dis­trict. The man was detained after a coali­tion airstrike on his loca­tion left him and sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents wound­ed. One mil­i­tant was killed dur­ing the airstrike. 

— Com­bined forces killed one insur­gent and wound­ed three oth­ers dur­ing an airstrike in Bara­ki Barak that tar­get­ed a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for road­side bombs and oth­er attacks on coali­tion forces in the region. The wound­ed insur­gents were tak­en to coali­tion facil­i­ties for med­ical atten­tion, offi­cials said. 

— Com­bined forces killed numer­ous insur­gents dur­ing a fire­fight in Helmand’s San­gin dis­trict. The coali­tion patrol was pinned down by small-arms fire and called for artillery and close-air sup­port. Artillery fire took out the ene­my posi­tions. Coali­tion forces con­tin­ued their patrol, but were attacked again. Avi­a­tion assets engaged the insur­gent force, offi­cials said. 

— In Helmand’s Garm Ser dis­trict, com­bined forces seized more than 2,200 pounds of opi­um dur­ing a vehi­cle-inter­dic­tion oper­a­tion. Tips from local res­i­dents led to the operation. 

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

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