Afghanistan — Afghanistan Operations Target Bombers, Weapons

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2010 — Afghan and inter­na­tion­al patrols tar­get­ed bomb­ing facil­i­ta­tors and weapons used to attack secu­ri­ty forces dur­ing recent oper­a­tions in south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Two insur­gents were killed when they fired on an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force as it pur­sued a Tal­iban com­man­der in Ghazni province last night. The com­bined force went to an open field in the Qara Bagh dis­trict after intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion indi­cat­ed insur­gent activ­i­ty. The secu­ri­ty force was con­front­ed in a small camp by sev­er­al armed insur­gents. Two of the mil­i­tants were killed in the ensu­ing firefight. 

The search team inter­viewed one of the tent own­ers, who said the insur­gents were out­siders who had forced their way into the camp. The com­bined force found rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, an auto­mat­ic rifle and frag­men­ta­tion grenades. Two sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained for questioning. 

West of Mar­ja in Hel­mand province’s Nawa dis­trict last night, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban road­side-bomb expert and a few oth­er militants. 

Also in Hel­mand last night, an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force detained almost a dozen sus­pect­ed insur­gents as it searched for a senior Tal­iban com­man­der who is part of a group that directs bomb attacks and ambush­es against coali­tion forces. 

In Kan­da­har last night, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force pur­su­ing a Tal­iban com­man­der involved in pur­chas­ing weapons and road­side bombs found explo­sive com­po­nents and cap­tured a sus­pect­ed mil­i­tant in the Zharay dis­trict. The team also uncov­ered mul­ti­ple 155 mm shells, ammo­ni­um nitrate and sul­fur, all used to make explosives. 

In Khost province last night, sev­er­al insur­gents were killed and one was wound­ed by an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force search­ing for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tor. Fol­low­ing a close-air-sup­port mis­sion that killed some insur­gents, the com­bined force went to a rur­al area in the Tereza­yi dis­trict and was con­front­ed by an armed man. He repeat­ed­ly refused to drop his weapon and was shot and killed when he attempt­ed to engage the secu­ri­ty force. 

The tar­get­ed Haqqani leader is respon­si­ble for facil­i­tat­ing and stor­ing bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, plant­i­ng road­side bombs and giv­ing and receiv­ing reports on coali­tion-force move­ments. A road­side bomb found near one of the insur­gents was lat­er det­o­nat­ed in place. 

In oth­er news, an MH-60 heli­copter made a con­trolled land­ing after being hit by ene­my fire in Hel­mand province yes­ter­day. All crew mem­bers were safe­ly returned to their base. The heli­copter was sup­port­ing a com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al assault force in the San­gin dis­trict and had just begun its return flight when it was hit by ene­my fire. The heli­copter could not be recov­ered and it was destroyed in place with close-air sup­port muni­tions. Mul­ti­ple ene­my fight­ers were engaged by the com­bined force, and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed mil­i­tants were cap­tured at the tar­get­ed compound. 

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