Afghan, Coalition Forces Detain Suspects in Khost

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces look­ing for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in the Sabari dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The Haqqani leader coor­di­nates and con­ducts attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and teach­es oth­er Haqqani insur­gents new tac­tics for boo­by-trap­ping hous­es with explo­sives, offi­cials said.

Also yes­ter­day, forces in Afghanistan found sev­er­al caches of ene­my weapons: 

— A com­bined Afghan-coali­tion patrol found 13 grenades, two mines, 700 7.62 mm rounds and sev­en assault-rifle mag­a­zines in Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har dis­trict, and a com­bined patrol in Kapisa province’s Tagab dis­trict found a riot gun, three artillery shells, a fuse, 25 mor­tar shells and 21 82 mm shells. 

— Sep­a­rate com­bined patrols in Kandahar’s Pan­jwai dis­trict found six 82 mm fus­es, 17 82 mm rounds, five rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, three direc­tion­al frag­men­ta­tion charges, a jug full of assault-rifle rounds, three assem­bled bombs, a jug of home­made explo­sives, three det­o­na­tors, a timer and 820 feet of wire. 

— In Kandahar’s Zharay dis­trict, a com­bined patrol found 18 grenades, a jug of shrap­nel, wire and loose ammunition. 

— An Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force unit in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict found 117 7.62 mm rounds and mul­ti­ple weapons. 

In Feb. 5 operations: 

— Coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents and con­fis­cat­ed 48 122 mm rock­et war­heads, 49 rock­et motors, 49 rock­et fus­es, and 1,000 7.62 mm rounds dur­ing a vehi­cle inter­dic­tion in Nim­roz province’s Chahur Bur­jak district. 

— Afghan and coali­tion units oper­at­ing in Nan­garhar province’s Khugyani dis­trict found 990 pounds of hero­in and 990 pounds of opi­um, along with a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, two bags of machine-gun rounds, an ammu­ni­tion belt, four full assault-rifle mag­a­zines, 12 bat­ter­ies and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing sup­plies and chemicals. 

— A com­bined patrol oper­at­ing in Kandahar’s Pan­jwai dis­trict found 15 rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds. 

— An Afghan and ISAF patrol in Kapisa’s Tagab dis­trict found 160 rounds of 7.62 mm ammu­ni­tion, 20 5.56 mm rounds, 15 5.45 mm rounds, sev­en grenades, a com­bat vest and assort­ed mag­a­zines, fus­es, radios and ammunition. 

— Act­ing on tips, an ISAF force in Kab­ul province’s Khak‑e Jabar dis­trict recov­ered 32 RPG rounds. 

— Local res­i­dents turned in 23 107 mm rock­ets and 672 14.5 mm rounds to an ISAF post in Ghor province’s Chaghcha­ran district. 

In oth­er news, frag­men­ta­tion from an ISAF air weapons team strike killed an Afghan child in Hel­mand province’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict today. Offi­cials said ser­vice mem­bers dis­cov­ered the child had been killed in a com­pound near the tar­get after the strike, which was part of an oper­a­tion to dis­rupt insur­gents’ com­mand and con­trol and bomb-attack networks. 

“This is a deeply regret­table acci­dent,” said Army Col. Patrick Hynes, ISAF Joint Command’s com­bined joint oper­a­tions cen­ter direc­tor. “Our thoughts and con­cerns are with the fam­i­ly dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time.” 

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

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