Forces Detain Numerous Insurgents in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces today detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion tar­get­ing a Haqqani Net­work facil­i­ta­tor in the Sayyid Karam dis­trict of Pak­tiya province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The man is believed to plan high-pro­file attacks in the dis­trict and has close asso­ci­a­tions with oth­er facil­i­ta­tors and promi­nent Haqqani lead­ers. The com­bined force was led to the tar­get com­pound based on intel­li­gence tips.

The sus­pects were detained for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. An AK-47 rifle and mul­ti­ple grenades were found on the premis­es. No shots were fired in the oper­a­tion. In oth­er Afghanistan news, Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force troops have seized numer­ous weapons caches through­out Afghanistan since the begin­ning of the year, most­ly in the South. Con­fis­cat­ed weapons and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als include more than 32,000 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, 40 pounds of mag­ne­sium, 5,550 feet of det­o­na­tion cord and wire, 400 mor­tar rounds, 150 land­mines, 400 hand grenades and 60 rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­ers with 260 rounds and 200 pres­sure plates. Var­i­ous small arms also were dis­cov­ered, includ­ing 200 AK-47 rifles with near­ly 40,000 rounds of ammu­ni­tion. The caches also yield­ed blast­ing caps, saw blades, ball bear­ings, hun­dreds of pounds of shrap­nel, two 66-pound bar­rels of home­made explo­sives, sui­cide vests, and oth­er types of explo­sives and bombs. 

Since Jan­u­ary, almost three times as many weapons caches were dis­cov­ered com­pared to the same time last year. As cache dis­cov­er­ies increased, so have the num­ber of com­mu­ni­ty tips and turn-ins. Almost 10 per­cent of the dis­cov­er­ies came from the help of local Afghans. 

In oper­a­tions yes­ter­day, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict of Bagh­lan province. The leader was an impro­vised-explo­sive-device expert direct­ly respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. He also was a key mem­ber in the Bagh­lan sui­cide-attack network. 

In April 6 operations: 

— Afghan and ISAF troops reclaimed a key check­point in the Shahid‑e Has­sas dis­trict of Uruz­gan province. The check­point was tak­en from local Afghan police March 23 when insur­gents attacked and killed a police com­man­der in Kakrak vil­lage. Dur­ing the attack, after fir­ing at a near­by mosque, insur­gents also killed sev­er­al Afghan civil­ians, includ­ing a young boy. While recov­er­ing the check­point, the Afghan-led com­bined forces were engaged by insur­gents with small-arms fire. The com­bined forces returned fire, forc­ing the insur­gents to flee. 

— In the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province, an ISAF patrol was engaged by sev­er­al insur­gents with small-arms and machine-gun fire. After gain­ing pos­i­tive iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, coali­tion forces returned fire, killing two insur­gents and forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. 

— In Kan­da­har province, dur­ing sep­a­rate clear­ing oper­a­tions, Afghan and ISAF troops dis­cov­ered sev­er­al weapons and IED-mak­ing com­po­nents caches in the Pan­jwa’i and Nahr‑e Saraj dis­tricts. The caches con­tained one AK-47 rifle, 840 7.62 mm rounds, two grenades, two rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, two 155 mm artillery shells, 35 pres­sure plates, home­made explo­sives and IED-mak­ing elec­tri­cal components. 

— Dur­ing a clear­ing oper­a­tion in the Koh‑e Safi dis­trict of Par­wan province, an ISAF patrol came under fire from sev­er­al insur­gents. Coali­tion forces returned fire, killing two insurgents. 

— In the Sayyid­abad dis­trict of War­dak province, an Afghan Nation­al Police and ISAF patrol dis­cov­ered a nar­cotics cache con­sist­ing of 200 pounds of marijuana. 

— In the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion forces patrol retrieved a weapons cache con­sist­ing of 1,100 7.62 mm rounds, one full AK-47 rifle mag­a­zine and five pistols. 

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

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