Afghan, Coalition Forces Prevent Mosque Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 10, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces yes­ter­day pre­vent­ed a planned ene­my explo­sion of a mosque in south­ern Afghanistan and killed a Tal­iban leader who led insur­gent oper­a­tions in the north, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force search­ing for a Tal­iban oper­a­tive dis­cov­ered an anti-per­son­nel mine inside a mosque in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. 

Afghan mem­bers of the force had entered the mosque to search for the man and found the mine, which Tal­iban insur­gents had placed on a shelf. 

In respect for the mosque, the com­bined force pulled away from the area and worked with local lead­ers to find a way to neu­tral­ize the mine with­out harm­ing the build­ing. The secu­ri­ty force com­plet­ed the oper­a­tion and detained mul­ti­ple suspects. 

The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was an attack plan­ner who sup­plies ene­my weapons and road­side-bomb com­po­nents for attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials in Kan­da­har City. 

In oth­er Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force news through­out Afghanistan yesterday: 

— Coali­tion forces killed a senior Tal­iban leader with a pre­ci­sion airstrike in the Dowlatabad dis­trict of Faryab province. Mul­lah Nasir was a com­mis­sion chief and the sec­ond in charge for Tal­iban oper­a­tions in Jowz­jan province. He was known for attacks on Afghan secu­ri­ty check­points, and trans­port­ing sup­plies and weapons through­out the region. He report­ed­ly killed vil­lagers claim­ing they were spies, levied ille­gal tax­es, burned homes, sold people’s live­stock and threat­ened to kill those who sup­port­ed the Afghan gov­ern­ment or secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing a Tal­iban weapons traf­fick­er in Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑e Sir­aj district. 

— In Uruz­gan province’s Tarin Kot dis­trict, a com­bined patrol found and seized 550 rounds of ammu­ni­tion, 30 mag­a­zines, 20 mor­tar rounds, rifle com­po­nents and a pair of binoculars. 

— In Khost province’s Ter­ayzai dis­trict, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a search for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work mem­ber involved in dis­trib­ut­ing ene­my weapons and build­ing road­side bombs. 

— A com­bined force in Ghazni province’s Wali Muham­mad Shahid Khugyani dis­trict detained sev­er­al insur­gents with sus­pect­ed ties to the Tal­iban while seek­ing a Tal­iban mem­ber known for build­ing road­side bombs, coor­di­nat­ing insur­gent move­ments and prepar­ing attacks. 

Source:
From an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Release