Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture Insurgents, Weapons, Drugs

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2012 — Com­bined inter­na­tion­al and Afghan forces cap­tured two Tal­iban lead­ers in Afghanistan today, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

A com­bined force in the north­ern province of Bagh­lan cap­tured a Tal­iban leader in the Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict, where he was known to oper­ate a bomb-mak­ing cell and direct attacks against Afghan forces.

In the south, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and anoth­er insur­gent in Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict. The leader coor­di­nat­ed direct-fire attacks in the upper Gereshk Val­ley and plant­ed road­side bombs.

Afghan and coali­tion forces detained anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for anoth­er Tal­iban leader who is known to dis­trib­ute explo­sives and plan road­side-bomb attacks.

In oth­er oper­a­tions in Afghanistan:

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani Net­work mem­ber in Khost province’s Nadir Shah Kot dis­trict today. The man coor­di­nat­ed attacks against coali­tion forces.

— A com­bined force found and destroyed two ille­gal drug caches while on patrol yes­ter­day in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict. One cache had about 2,200 pounds of mar­i­jua­na; the oth­er had about 330 pounds of mar­i­jua­na and about 110 pounds of mar­i­jua­na seeds. In Jan. 1 operations:

— A com­bined force observed a road­side bomb det­o­na­tion on a road in Kan­da­har province’s Mai­wand dis­trict yes­ter­day. Short­ly after, the patrol stopped and searched a vehi­cle that was found to con­tain two explo­sive devices, two pow­er sources and about 300 pounds of explo­sives. Secu­ri­ty forces took the vehicle’s two occu­pants into cus­tody for ques­tion­ing. The secu­ri­ty force con­fis­cat­ed the bombs and explo­sive mate­ri­als for destruc­tion at a lat­er date.

— A com­bined patrol found three weapons caches in Uruz­gan province’s Tarin Kot dis­trict. The caches con­sist­ed of 60 antiper­son­nel mines, three hand grenades, three rock­et-pro­pelled grenade war­heads, four 60 mm mor­tar rounds, 10 mor­tar charges and more than 1,000 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion. Secu­ri­ty forces destroyed a por­tion of the weapons on site and con­fis­cat­ed the rest for destruc­tion at a lat­er date.

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force seized weapons and detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban mem­ber who moves weapons and explo­sives in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province.

— In the Sherzad dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force con­fis­cat­ed weapons and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who directs a group of insur­gent fight­ers respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan forces.

— A com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple insur­gents dur­ing a search for a Haqqani Net­work mem­ber in Log­ar province’s Pul‑e Alam dis­trict. The man was want­ed in con­nec­tion with a car bomb attack last month that killed a civil­ian and wound­ed nine oth­ers in the province.

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani Net­work leader and mul­ti­ple oth­er insur­gent sus­pects in the Bermal dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province. The man is known to orga­nize insur­gent oper­a­tions and pro­vide safe pas­sage for insur­gents trav­el­ing from Pak­istan to Afghanistan.

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force in Helmand’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban leader who oper­at­ed in both Musa Qalah and Kaja­ki dis­tricts, sup­port­ing insur­gents and plan­ning attacks against coali­tion forces. An addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insur­gent was detained.

— A com­bined force found and destroyed 300 pounds of mar­i­jua­na while on patrol in Kandahar’s Pan­jwai district.

In Dec. 31 operations:

— Com­bined forces in the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province found and destroyed a 125 mm tank round, 39 mor­tar rounds, more than 400 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade and 29 artillery fuses.

— A coali­tion secu­ri­ty force on patrol in the Argo dis­trict of Badakhshan province found and destroyed four anti-tank mines, an 82 mm mor­tar round, a hand grenade and a jug of explosives.

— A com­bined patrol in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province uncov­ered and destroyed five armed bombs with a total of 33 pounds of explo­sive material.

In Dec. 30 operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force in Nangarhar’s Lalpur dis­trict found and destroyed an anti-tank mine, 25 sticks of dyna­mite, more than 1,000 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, a frag­men­ta­tion grenade, a bolt-action rifle and bomb-mak­ing materials.

— Coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces in Kandahar’s Arghandab dis­trict found and destroyed 38 recoil­less rifle rounds, eight rock­et-pro­pelled grenade war­heads, 38 RPG boost­ers and 17 120 mm mor­tar rounds.

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force in Kandahar’s Zharay dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban leader who planned attacks against Afghan forces. Mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents also were detained.

— With coali­tion sup­port, an Afghan force in Pak­tia province’s Gardez dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban leader who con­duct­ed road­side-bomb attacks through­out the area. The secu­ri­ty force seized weapons and ammu­ni­tion and detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing the operation. 

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

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