Afghanistan — Coalition Forces Capture Provincial Taliban Commander

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 26, 2010 — A com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban oper­a­tions facil­i­ta­tor and oth­er sus­pect­ed mil­i­tants in south­east­ern Afghanistan last night, mil­i­tary offi­cials said.

The com­bined forces cap­tured the facil­i­ta­tor and oth­er mil­i­tants in Zab­ul province’s Qalat dis­trict, where he has ties to sev­er­al insur­gent net­works and is known to fund the insur­gency. When the secu­ri­ty force con­front­ed him, he imme­di­ate­ly sur­ren­dered and iden­ti­fied him­self as the want­ed man. No shots were fired, and no one was harmed. In oth­er oper­a­tions in Afghanistan: 

— A com­bined patrol found 50 det­o­na­tors, a mor­tar round, a mor­tar fuse, det­o­na­tion cord, ball bear­ings, pres­sure plates, a small bag of home­made explo­sives, and a trig­ger device, in Uruz­gan province’s Chorah dis­trict yesterday. 

— Afghan forces work­ing with inter­na­tion­al part­ners in Hel­mand province killed sev­er­al insur­gents in a fire­fight in Shu­rakay yes­ter­day. The team was approach­ing a com­pound where a Tal­iban com­man­der was believed to be when they were attacked by insur­gents with small arms and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. 

The com­bined forces sur­round­ed the com­pound so Afghan spe­cial police could ensure res­i­dents could come out safe­ly. Sev­er­al occu­pants were detained, and sev­er­al women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the oper­a­tion, offi­cials said. No civil­ians were injured. 

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