Afghan-coalition Force Kills Taliban Leader, Detains Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2010 — A com­bined Afghan-coali­tion secu­ri­ty force today tar­get­ed and killed a Tal­iban leader dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Afghanistan’s Hel­mand province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Intel­li­gence reports and tips from local cit­i­zens led the Afghan-coali­tion force to the target’s loca­tion, where they were imme­di­ate­ly engaged by three insur­gents. The Afghan and coali­tion forces returned fire, killing the attack­ers. After secur­ing the com­pound, Afghan and coali­tion forces attempt­ed to call out any addi­tion­al insur­gents and civil­ians, but were unsuccessful. 

The Afghan and coali­tion forces then forcibly entered the com­pound. Dur­ing the search they again came under fire by a lone insur­gent, who was hid­ing with­in the build­ing. The insur­gent was killed in the ensu­ing fire fight. 

In oth­er news today: 

— Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Forces and coali­tion forces secured a large weapons cache in the Jal­riz dis­trict of May­dan War­dak province. Act­ing on a tip from a local infor­mant, the oper­a­tion net­ted six 75 mm recoil­less rifle rounds, eight fus­es, two 60 mm mor­tar rounds, one 82 mm recoil­less round, sev­en 85 mm recoil­less rounds, 18 rock­et-pro­pelled grenade 9 rock­ets, and four RPG 7 rock­ets. The cache was destroyed in place. 

In Aug. 29 news: 

— Two insur­gents wear­ing sui­cide impro­vised explo­sive device vests were killed in an explo­sion in Farah city. Accord­ing to reports, the two insur­gents attempt­ed to scale the perime­ter wall of the governor’s com­pound when at least one of the sui­cide vests det­o­nat­ed. The blast dam­aged part of the perime­ter wall and blew out win­dows inside the com­pound and at a near­by school. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Pak­tiya province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der who coor­di­nates sui­cide bomb­ings through­out the area. Act­ing on intel­li­gence tips, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound east of Malek­shir Kala in Zor­mat dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, mag­a­zines and ammu­ni­tion at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— An Afghan par­lia­men­tary can­di­date was assas­si­nat­ed in the Shin­dand dis­trict of Heart province. Abdul Man­an, a can­di­date in the next par­lia­men­tary elec­tion, was shot in the Shin­dand city cen­ter by a man who approached him on a motor­bike. Manan’s rel­a­tives attempt­ed to take him to a Heart hos­pi­tal, but Man­an died from his injuries on the way. “Our thoughts are with the fam­i­ly dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Tor­res, Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor. “We con­demn the actions of the shoot­er and hope the com­mu­ni­ty ral­lies togeth­er to turn him in.” 

— The Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­firmed the cap­ture of a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing an Afghan-coali­tion secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province. The insur­gent pro­cured and moved weapons and coor­di­nat­ed IED attacks. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound out­side Deh Savzi in Arghandab dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. The com­bined force used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. The secu­ri­ty force detained the facil­i­ta­tor and six asso­ciates after inter­view­ing the res­i­dents on scene. The secu­ri­ty force also found an IED ini­tia­tor at the scene. Afghan women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan-led force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kan­da­har province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der believed to be respon­si­ble for direct­ing IED attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces. The com­man­der also alleged­ly coor­di­nates the move­ment of sup­plies and fight­ers through­out the province. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound in Sen­jaray in Kan­da­har dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. The secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gents after inter­view­ing the res­i­dents on scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Khost province while in pur­suit of a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor whose pri­ma­ry role is coor­di­nat­ing the move­ment of fight­ers through­out Khost, Pak­tiya and Pak­ti­ka provinces. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a remote series of com­pounds north of Ziarat‑e Bad in Khost dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. — Coali­tion forces car­ried out an air strike tar­get­ing a senior Tal­iban com­man­der south of San­gin, Hel­mand province. The tar­get, Qari Hazrat, who had been con­duct­ing hit-and-run attacks in the San­gin and Qaleh Ye Gaz areas against Afghan and coali­tion forces, was killed in the strike, along with three oth­er insurgents. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured a Haqqani net­work com­man­der and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Khost province. The com­man­der and his fight­ers are believed to be involved in the Aug. 28 attack on For­ward Oper­at­ing Bases Saler­no and Chap­man. The com­man­der also is believed to be involved in IED attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces. Act­ing on intel­li­gence tips, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a series of build­ings east of Khodiza­li in Ter­ayzai dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the com­man­der along with sev­er­al Haqqani fight­ers. The secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered and destroyed a sui­cide vest and mul­ti­ple grenade launch­ers, hand grenades, auto­mat­ic weapons, mag­a­zines and ammu­ni­tion. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured a sus­pect­ed Tal­iban IED facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds in Saheb­dad Ghundey in Kan­da­har dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the facil­i­ta­tor. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Pak­tiya province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der who coor­di­nates sui­cide bomb­ings through­out Pak­tiya. Act­ing on intel­li­gence tips, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound east of Malek­shir Kala in Zor­mat dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, mag­a­zines and ammu­ni­tion at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces con­firmed the cap­ture of a Haqqani net­work com­man­der sus­pect­ed of involve­ment in the Aug. 28 attacks on For­ward Oper­at­ing Bases Saler­no and Chap­man in Khost province. Two oth­er insur­gents also were detained. Act­ing on intel­li­gence tips, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound south of Bakhtanah in Sabari dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the com­man­der and two addi­tion­al insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured a Tal­iban judge with influ­ence in Nad ‘Ali and Mar­jah dis­tricts of Hel­mand province. The assault force tar­get­ed a com­pound west of Lashkar Gah in Mar­jah dis­trict in pur­suit of the judge. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly, and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all of the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the judge. The secu­ri­ty force also found 15 pounds of wet opi­um at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

In Aug. 28 news: 

— A joint inci­dent assess­ment team recent­ly found no evi­dence to con­clude coali­tion force heli­copters were respon­si­ble for the deaths of three Afghan Nation­al Police mem­bers Aug. 21. In ini­tial report­ing, it was believed the deaths were caused by an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force coali­tion air weapons team, but clos­er exam­i­na­tion indi­cates there is no evi­dence to sup­port the air-weapons team caused the ANP casu­al­ties, accord­ing to the report. The team trav­eled to Mazar-e-Sharif to exam­ine the facts of the case where three ANP offi­cers were killed and nine oth­ers wound­ed in Jowz­jan province, alleged­ly by coali­tion heli­copters. The team inter­viewed peo­ple involved in the inci­dent and reviewed tapes from the heli­copters. The team was made up of Afghanistan-gov­ern­ment appoint­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the min­istries of Inte­ri­or and Defense, as well as a gen­er­al offi­cer and staff rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the ISAF Joint Com­mand. In its report, the team deter­mined the one Hell­fire mis­sile and 80 rounds of 30 mm fire impact­ed a pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fied insur­gent fir­ing posi­tion. The review of gun-tape footage clear­ly indi­cates the fire pro­vid­ed by the air weapons team impact­ed a hill­top where ene­my activ­i­ty was present. Pri­or to the oper­a­tion begin­ning, an order was issued to the ANA com­man­der to have all per­son­nel remain inside the com­pound. An ANA chief lat­er acknowl­edged he under­stood all per­son­nel were to remain in the com­pound. It was the con­clu­sion of the team that no coali­tion fire impact­ed inside the com­pound where the ANA forces were locat­ed. Also in the report, the team not­ed the engage­ment with ene­my forces began sev­er­al hours before the heli­copters arrived on loca­tion and last­ed sev­er­al hours after, mak­ing it pos­si­ble casu­al­ties result­ed from oth­er small arms or indi­rect fire before or after the air weapons team was in the area. 

— A joint inci­dent assess­ment team returned to Kab­ul fol­low­ing a trip to Badghis province where two Span­ish mil­i­tary instruc­tors, a Span­ish inter­preter and an Afghan Nation­al Police mem­ber were killed fol­low­ing an Aug. 25 gun fight with an Afghan Nation­al Army ser­vice­mem­ber. Fol­low­ing its assess­ment, it was con­firmed that the Afghan ser­vice­mem­ber killed the Span­ish mil­i­tary instruc­tors and the Span­ish inter­preter in an unpro­voked attack. The team deter­mined that the ANP ser­vice­mem­ber had been arrest­ed and dis­armed a year ago for links to ter­ror­ists. Fol­low­ing his arrest, two local elders estab­lished the shoot­er as a cred­i­ble mem­ber of soci­ety and he was there­fore allowed to go free and sub­se­quent­ly re-enlist with the ANP. Accord­ing to the report, the shoot­ing was unpro­voked and like­ly caused by the shooter’s links to ter­ror­ists — the shooter’s broth­er-in-law is a known ter­ror­ist in the area. With­in 25 min­utes of the shoot­ing inci­dent, a vio­lent demon­stra­tion took place at the for­mer provin­cial recon­struc­tion team base in Qal’ah Ye Now, the same site where the shoot­ings occurred. The joint team dis­cov­ered that bricks used to attack the PRT had been prepo­si­tioned in piles pri­or to the demon­stra­tion. They also dis­cov­ered that some demon­stra­tors were in pos­ses­sion of hand grenades, Molo­tov cock­tails and weapons upon arrival. Dur­ing the demon­stra­tion Span­ish mil­i­tary instruc­tors remained inside the base with the ANP trainees. The report indi­cates that ANP out­side the base respond­ed to the demon­stra­tion and took con­trol of the sit­u­a­tion. The vio­lent demon­stra­tion result­ed in 25 wound­ed, 11 by gun­fire; how­ev­er, it is unclear how the wounds were suf­fered since many of the demon­stra­tors were fir­ing guns, throw­ing bricks and grenades. The report con­firmed that none of the injuries were caused by ISAF forces. The report indi­cates that the attack and demon­stra­tion were coor­di­nat­ed and the result of ter­ror­ist activity. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces oper­at­ing in Pak­tiya province pur­sued and killed a Tal­iban com­man­der respon­si­ble for indi­rect- and direct-fire attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. The deceased insur­gent com­man­der, Naman, also coor­di­nat­ed the move­ment of IEDs, ammu­ni­tion, sup­plies and fight­ers. Sev­en oth­er insur­gents also were killed dur­ing the oper­a­tion. As the secu­ri­ty force approached the tar­get­ed com­pounds west of Kowti Sheyl in Zor­mat dis­trict, sev­er­al armed insur­gents ran from the com­pounds. Two of the insur­gents hid out­side the com­pound and were engaged by coali­tion air­craft after they threat­ened the secu­ri­ty force. Two addi­tion­al armed insur­gents ran in a dif­fer­ent direc­tion. As the secu­ri­ty force attempt­ed to inter­dict them, the insur­gents demon­strat­ed hos­tile intent and also were killed. Dur­ing a fol­low-on inspec­tion, the secu­ri­ty force found auto­mat­ic weapons, grenades, mag­a­zines and IED-mak­ing mate­r­i­al with the insur­gents. In the com­pound, four insur­gents hid inside one of the build­ings and engaged the force with a machine gun as they attempt­ed to clear the build­ing. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire and killed the insur­gents. Inside the build­ing, the secu­ri­ty force found the machine gun, mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, 16 grenades, 25 mag­a­zines, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er with mul­ti­ple rounds and a bay­o­net. They also found IED-mak­ing mate­r­i­al includ­ing blast­ing caps and oth­er com­po­nents in the build­ing. After the fight­ing ceased, Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to peace­ful­ly exit the remain­der of the build­ings. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents on scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— A coali­tion force air strike was con­duct­ed against a senior Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan com­man­der who facil­i­tates for­eign fight­ers and leads attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces in Kun­duz. The com­man­der has a stand­ing rela­tion­ship with senior Tal­iban mem­bers in Kun­duz and his fight­ers are inte­grat­ed with Tal­iban fight­ers in the area. Intel­li­gence tracked three armed insur­gents trav­el­ing on a motor­cy­cle south of Mang Tapa in Cha­har Darah dis­trict. After ver­i­fy­ing insur­gent activ­i­ty and ensur­ing no civil­ians were present, coali­tion air­craft engaged the insur­gents. Coali­tion forces did not dis­patch a fol­low-on ground force, but assessed the air strike killed at least one insur­gent and wound­ed anoth­er. No civil­ians were injured or killed in this operation. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed more than 30 Haqqani net­work insur­gents, includ­ing 13 wear­ing sui­cide vests, as they attempt­ed to storm For­ward Oper­at­ing Bases Saler­no and Chap­man and gov­ern­ment build­ings in Khost dur­ing an Aug. 28 morn­ing attack. Mudasir, a Haqqani sui­cide bomber and IED facil­i­ta­tor, was killed as he attempt­ed to flee as the attack was defeat­ed by Afghan and ISAF secu­ri­ty forces. Overnight, ANSF and ISAF forces cap­i­tal­ized on intel­li­gence tips to cap­ture a com­man­der involved in plan­ning the attacks. The attack was the lat­est of sev­er­al insur­gent attempts to con­duct spec­tac­u­lar attacks in the last sev­er­al months. All of the attempts, includ­ing attacks in Jalal­abad, Kan­da­har, Bagram and Kab­ul failed to achieve any sig­nif­i­cant oper­a­tional effect. 

“The insur­gents’ attempts to attack ISAF or Afghan gov­ern­ment facil­i­ties were defeat­ed again,” said Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, ISAF spokesman. “The insur­gent lead­er­ship who direct these ill-con­ceived attacks far from the actu­al bat­tle­field knows their low-lev­el fight­ers have no chance of suc­cess against these tar­gets.” Since May 2010, there have been five failed insur­gent attacks on ISAF or Afghan gov­ern­ment tar­gets gar­ner­ing sig­nif­i­cant atten­tion result­ing in dozens of insur­gents cap­tured or killed. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Nan­garhar province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban oper­a­tional com­man­der direct­ly linked to a Feb. 22 sui­cide bomber attack that killed Khogyani elder Haji Zaman. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds out­side Khoza­kheyl in Khugyani dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents on scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the insur­gents. They also dis­cov­ered mul­ti­ple weapons on the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons and they pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. No civil­ians were killed or injured dur­ing this operation. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der who is a key facil­i­ta­tor of weapons and sup­plies for oth­er Tal­iban com­man­ders oper­at­ing in north­ern Hel­mand. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound in remote Mar­jah dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. The secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gents after ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents on scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— More than 10 sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained in Kan­da­har dur­ing an Afghan-led oper­a­tion in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der. The insur­gent com­man­der, who prof­its from weapons traf­fick­ing, medi­ates allo­ca­tion dis­putes, and is a mid­dle-man between oth­er senior-lev­el lead­ers in the province. Afghan and coali­tion forces went to a com­pound west of Seyyedan in Arghandab dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the areas. The secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gents after inter­view­ing the res­i­dents. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren for the dura­tion of the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent in Kun­duz province while in pur­suit of the Tal­iban dis­trict com­man­der for Ali­abad, who is direct­ly involved in the plan­ning of attacks against coali­tion forces. Ear­li­er this month, an Afghan and coali­tion force killed Abu Baqir, a dual-hat­ted Tal­iban sub-com­man­der and al-Qai­da group leader, after a coali­tion force air weapons team wit­nessed Baqir and a group of insur­gents attack­ing an Ali­abad police sta­tion. Afghan and coali­tion forces went to a com­pound east of Ger­dan in Cha­har Darah dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. The secu­ri­ty force used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the areas. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents on scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gent. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons and they pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— ISAF offi­cials con­firmed the cap­ture of a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor involved in the acqui­si­tion of mil­i­tary mate­ri­als dur­ing an Afghan and coali­tion force oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province. The cap­tured Tal­iban mem­ber also is respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing IED attacks. Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a com­pound out­side Deh Savzi in Arghandab dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the areas. The secu­ri­ty force detained the facil­i­ta­tor and six asso­ciates after inter­view­ing the res­i­dents on scene. The secu­ri­ty force also found an IED ini­tia­tor at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— The com­man­der of ISAF Joint Com­mand has ordered an inves­ti­ga­tion into the alle­ga­tions of civil­ian casu­al­ties in Bagh­lan province dur­ing an Aug. 22 oper­a­tion. The inves­ti­ga­tion was ordered based on infor­ma­tion con­tained in the joint ini­tial assess­ment team’s report of the oper­a­tion. The assess­ment team deter­mined that sev­er­al rounds from coali­tion heli­copters fell short, miss­ing the intend­ed tar­get and instead strik­ing two build­ings, which may have result­ed in civil­ian casu­al­ties. Insur­gents were using the build­ing as a base of oper­a­tions; how­ev­er, it was not the intend­ed tar­get. “We are here to pro­tect the peo­ple of Afghanistan. Civil­ian casu­al­ties reduce the con­fi­dence of the Afghan peo­ple and erodes trust placed in us,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, ISAF Joint Com­mand com­man­der. “This is a seri­ous issue and that’s why I ordered this inves­ti­ga­tion. We will find out what hap­pened dur­ing this oper­a­tion.” Results of the inves­ti­ga­tion will be pro­vid­ed upon completion. 

In Aug. 27 news: 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces oper­at­ing in Kan­da­har province cap­tured a Tal­iban com­man­der believed to be respon­si­ble for IED and rock­et-pro­pelled grenade attacks. The Tal­iban com­man­der also is believed to have facil­i­tat­ed weapons and IEDs for future attacks. The assault force tar­get­ed series of tents west of Hajji Azaz in Kan­da­har dis­trict in pur­suit of the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the tents peace­ful­ly, and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing all of the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the com­man­der along with two asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire weapons and pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

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

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