Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture Insurgent Leaders

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2012 — Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured mul­ti­ple insur­gents in east­ern Afghanistan today, includ­ing three who were lead­ers in the Tal­iban and Haqqani net­works, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

A com­bined Afghan and inter­na­tion­al force detained two of the insur­gent lead­ers in Log­ar province’s Pul‑e ‘Alam dis­trict. One is a Haqqani leader who direct­ed road­side bomb­ings and oth­er attacks against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces and pro­vid­ed weapons, ammu­ni­tion, and explo­sives to insur­gents in the area. The oth­er was a Tal­iban leader who coor­di­nat­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion troops in the Bara­ki Barak district. 

Also today in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader who orga­nized sui­cide bomb­ings and oth­er attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces through­out the dis­trict. Serv­ing as a Tal­iban judge, the man ordered behead­ings and oth­er pun­ish­ments for Afghan civil­ians liv­ing in the area. 

The secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al addi­tion­al insur­gents in both operations. 

In oth­er secu­ri­ty oper­a­tions in Afghanistan today: 

— A com­bined force detained a Tal­iban insur­gent in Log­ar province’s Bara­ki Barak dis­trict. The man is an explo­sives expert who coor­di­nat­ed road­side bomb­ings against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces through­out the district. 

— In the Dand dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion to detain a Tal­iban leader who dis­trib­utes weapons to insur­gents for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion to detain a Tal­iban leader in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The leader plans and super­vis­es road­side bomb­ings and oth­er attacks against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— In the Shin­war dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, an Afghan provin­cial response team advised by coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban leader and impro­vised explo­sive device expert who was respon­si­ble for trans­port­ing and emplac­ing IEDs through­out the province, as well as attacks against secu­ri­ty forces. Sev­er­al addi­tion­al insur­gents also were detained. 

— An Afghan provin­cial response team, work­ing with Afghan secu­ri­ty forces and coali­tion advi­sors, seized an insur­gent weapons cache dur­ing an oper­a­tion to dis­rupt insur­gent weapons traf­fick­ing and secure trans­porta­tion routes in Nan­garhar province’s Achin dis­trict. The cache, con­sist­ing of five recoil­less rifles, eight rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, some small-arms ammu­ni­tion and IED com­po­nents, was destroyed on site. 

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