Combined Force Kills Taliban Leader

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed Malawi Sahib, a Tal­iban leader, dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Bara­ki Barak dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Log­ar province today, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Offi­cials said the insur­gent leader was found hid­ing inside a com­pound. Upon being dis­cov­ered, he lunged toward a mem­ber of the force and attempt­ed to seize his weapon.

Assess­ing an imme­di­ate threat, the secu­ri­ty force fired, killing the Tal­iban leader.

Malawi Sahib had dis­trib­uted weapons and ammu­ni­tion to insur­gent fight­ers for use in attacks against Afghan forces.

In oth­er Afghanistan oper­a­tions today:

— In the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader who is linked to a weapons-traf­fick­ing oper­a­tion from Pak­istan. The weapons were dis­trib­uted to senior Tal­iban lead­ers in Afghanistan’s Hel­mand and Kan­da­har provinces. The secu­ri­ty force also con­fis­cat­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and detained sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insurgents.

— A com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pects dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in the Pan­jwa’i dis­trict of Kan­da­har province.

The facil­i­ta­tor con­ducts road­side-bomb attacks and moves explo­sives through­out the Pan­jwa’i and Dand districts.

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader in the Maid­an Shahr dis­trict of War­dak province. The leader sup­plied weapons to fight­ers and coor­di­nat­ed attacks against Afghan forces.

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and detained two oth­er sus­pects in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province. The facil­i­ta­tor pro­vid­ed a safe haven for insur­gent lead­ers and fight­ers in the dis­trict, and moved fight­ers and weapons.

— In the Sabari dis­trict of Khost province, a com­bined force detained two sus­pects while search­ing for a Haqqani leader. The insur­gent leader directs attacks against Afghan forces and dis­trib­utes explo­sives through­out the district.

In yesterday’s Afghanistan operations:

— A com­bined patrol found a weapons cache con­tain­ing six rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, 12 RPG motors, two stick grenades, more than 500 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion and impro­vised explo­sive device-mak­ing com­po­nents in the Tarin Kot dis­trict of Uruz­gan province.

— A coali­tion force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­tain­ing two rock­ets, four 82mm mor­tar rounds and sev­en RPG launch­ers in the Cha­har Darah dis­trict of Kun­duz province.

— In the Achin dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined patrol found a drug cache con­tain­ing 2,750 pounds of hashish. 

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

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