Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill, Detain Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2010 — Afghan and coali­tion forces today killed more than 10 Tal­iban fight­ers dur­ing an oper­a­tion in north­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Secu­ri­ty forces were patrolling a vil­lage in Bagh­lan province’s Dahanah-ye Ghori dis­trict to root out insur­gents in the area. Troops searched and cleared near­ly 30 build­ings, tak­ing spo­radic ene­my gun­fire through­out the oper­a­tion. Pre­ci­sion return fire and close-air sup­port repelled the insur­gent attacks and result­ed in the deaths of more than 10 insur­gents.

Also today in Afghanistan, offi­cials from NATO’s Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­firmed the iden­ti­ty of a senior Tal­iban oper­a­tive cap­tured Dec. 11 in Nan­garhar province. As the shad­ow gov­er­nor for the province’s Sherzad dis­trict, he led a large group of Tal­iban fight­ers who con­duct­ed small-arms attacks and bomb­ings against secu­ri­ty forces. 

In oper­a­tions in Afghanistan yesterday: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces in Zab­ul province’s Shah Joy dis­trict killed two insur­gents in an effort to ensure secure High­way 1, Afghanistan’s main road, which con­nects Jalal­abad, Kab­ul, Kan­da­har and oth­er major cities. The two insur­gents fled the build­ing they were hid­ing in as secu­ri­ty forces approached. Both insur­gents were car­ry­ing weapons. One opened fire on the pur­su­ing troops, but was killed in the gun bat­tle. The oth­er insur­gent con­tin­ued to flee, but was also killed in a shootout with the troops. 

— In Ghor province’s Pasa­band dis­trict, two insur­gents, includ­ing a poten­tial Tal­iban leader, were killed dur­ing a coali­tion airstrike. Coali­tion avi­a­tion assets mon­i­tored and tracked the alleged Tal­iban leader for sev­er­al hours before engag­ing him. Troops watched him and an asso­ciate leave a known insur­gent hide­out on a motor­cy­cle. Troops fired on them once inno­cent bystanders were out of range. ISAF is offi­cials are work­ing to deter­mine the insur­gents’ identities. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har City, secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents with ties to a senior region­al Tal­iban leader who report­ed­ly is respon­si­ble for plan­ning and car­ry­ing out attacks on Afghan and coali­tion troops. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces in Khost province’s Ter­ayzai dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents alleged­ly con­nect­ed to the region’s Haqqani ter­ror­ist network. 

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

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