Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill Several Insurgents

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces today killed sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Bal Chi­ragh dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Faryab province.
Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, an insur­gent killed three chil­dren and wound­ed sev­er­al women and chil­dren. Afghan and coali­tion forces sep­a­rat­ed the women and chil­dren and cor­doned them into a court­yard as ini­tial com­bat broke out. How­ev­er, one of the insur­gents sub­se­quent­ly point­ed a weapon through an adja­cent win­dow and then threw a hand grenade into the court­yard area, result­ing in the deaths and injuries of Afghan civil­ians, as well as the wound­ing of five Afghan and coali­tion forces.

The secu­ri­ty force was tar­get­ing two of the top Tal­iban lead­ers in Faryab province. 

Secu­ri­ty forces pro­vid­ed imme­di­ate med­ical care for the women and chil­dren, who were trans­port­ed to a med­ical facility. 

“This is yet anoth­er exam­ple of insur­gents will­ful­ly mur­der­ing Afghan civil­ians,” said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Harold Pittman, ISAF deputy chief of staff for com­mu­ni­ca­tion. “This kind of bla­tant dis­re­gard for the lives of inno­cent Afghans is rep­re­hen­si­ble. Work­ing with our Afghan part­ners, we will con­tin­ue our relent­less pur­suit of those who would pre­vent peace in Afghanistan.” 

In oth­er news today, ISAF joined the gov­er­nor of Hel­mand province in con­demn­ing yesterday’s mur­der of a Hel­mand dis­trict com­mu­ni­ty coun­cil­man while he was at prayer in a mosque. “This vile attack demon­strates the com­plete dis­re­gard insur­gents have for their fel­low Afghans,” Pittman said. “The wan­ton mur­der of a man at prayer under­scores the dis­re­spect insur­gents have for the tra­di­tions and val­ues that Afghans hold dear. 

“Our thoughts are with the fam­i­ly and friends who suf­fered this trag­ic loss,” Pittman con­tin­ued. “We are encour­aged to hear provin­cial author­i­ties have already arrest­ed three sus­pects in this case, and ISAF stands ready to pro­vide any sup­port nec­es­sary to help bring the killers to justice.” 

In oth­er Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force killed an armed man while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Chak‑e War­dak dis­trict of War­dak province. The facil­i­ta­tor is respon­si­ble for dis­trib­ut­ing weapons and ammu­ni­tion to Tal­iban mem­bers for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in the Shah Joy dis­trict of Zab­ul province. The facil­i­ta­tor is respon­si­ble for the move­ment, dis­tri­b­u­tion and emplace­ment of impro­vised explo­sive devices tar­get­ing coali­tion forces along High­way 1. He also has attempt­ed to con­duct IED attacks on coali­tion forces in Ghazni province. 

— Com­bined forces detained sev­er­al Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tors and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing oper­a­tions in the Sabari dis­trict of Khost province. The facil­i­ta­tors includ­ed an explo­sives instruc­tor for the net­work, an IED emplac­er and a Hezb‑E Isla­mi Gul­bud­din leader. Three AK-47 assault rifles, a shot­gun, a rifle, a pis­tol and IED mate­ri­als were dis­cov­ered dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Bara­ki Barak dis­trict of Log­ar province. The facil­i­ta­tor is respon­si­ble for the acqui­si­tion and dis­tri­b­u­tion of weapons and sup­plies to sub­or­di­nate Tal­iban fighters. 

— In Nan­garhar province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for an al-Qai­da leader dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Beshud dis­trict. The leader works for al-Qai­da and the Tal­iban, pri­mar­i­ly in east­ern Afghanistan and Pak­istan. He assists the insur­gent net­works with the acqui­si­tion, move­ment and employ­ment of weapons and fight­ers in the Kunar region. 

— A com­bined force detained a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Chak‑e War­dak dis­trict of War­dak province. The facil­i­ta­tor pro­vid­ed weapons and recon­nais­sance of coali­tion force move­ments to Tal­iban with­in the dis­trict. He also coor­di­nat­ed attacks against local Afghan civil­ians with Chak‑e War­dak-based Tal­iban cells. 

— ISAF troops killed sev­er­al insur­gents in the Yahya Khel dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province. An ISAF com­bat out­post per­ceived an immi­nent threat from numer­ous armed insur­gents. Coali­tion forces engaged the insur­gents and called for air sup­port. The air-weapons team engaged the ene­my, killing sev­er­al insur­gents and forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. A coali­tion quick-response team recov­ered three AK-47 assault rifles, one PKM machine gun, one rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, one 9 mm pis­tol, three tac­ti­cal chest racks with grenades, two motor­cy­cles, tac­ti­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tions equip­ment and one video camera. 

— In Sar‑e Pul province, an ISAF patrol observed armed insur­gents oper­at­ing in the Sayad dis­trict. The patrol engaged the insur­gents and called for air sup­port. The air-weapons team engaged the ene­my, killing one insur­gent and forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. 

— In Uruz­gan, Kan­da­har and Hel­mand provinces, dur­ing sep­a­rate clear­ing oper­a­tions, Afghan and ISAF troops dis­cov­ered sev­er­al weapons caches in the Deh Rawud, Arghandab and Mar­jah dis­tricts. The caches con­tained 500 7.62 mm rounds, four rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, 14 82 mm mor­tar rounds, two 107 mm rock­ets, two chest racks, eight mor­tar fus­es, 12 home­made det­o­na­tors and sev­er­al IED-mak­ing components. 

In April 10 operations: 

— Afghan and ISAF troops found a weapons cache in the Pagh­man dis­trict of Kab­ul province. The cache con­tained 22 rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, 10 recoil­less rifle rounds and loose ammunition. 

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

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