Afghan, Coalition Forces Target Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2010 — Numer­ous insur­gents were killed or cap­tured in recent part­nered oper­a­tions con­duct­ed by Afghan and coali­tion forces in var­i­ous provinces of Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed 25 to 30 insur­gents dur­ing an engage­ment near a com­bat out­post in Khost province’s Sper­ah dis­trict yes­ter­day. The engage­ment occurred after insur­gent forces attacked the com­bined force with small arms and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. After pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fy­ing the insur­gents maneu­ver­ing to attack the out­post, Afghan and coali­tion forces called for sup­port from an attack weapons team, which engaged the insur­gent fir­ing posi­tions, result­ing in the insur­gent casualties. 

— Today in Khost, a tip led Afghan and coali­tion forces to detain sev­er­al insur­gents known to facil­i­tate road­side-bomb attacks. 

— In Ghazni province overnight, Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured a high-lev­el Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who planned and coor­di­nat­ed attacks tar­get­ing recent elec­tions. The facil­i­ta­tor, who is asso­ci­at­ed with for­eign fight­ers, was detained dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven and Afghan-led oper­a­tion. The secu­ri­ty force found and destroyed auto­mat­ic weapons, grenades, ammu­ni­tion mag­a­zines and a shot­gun at the scene. 

— Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence reports and tips from local res­i­dents led Afghan and coali­tion forces to a sus­pect­ed insur­gent com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with a high-lev­el Tal­iban tar­get in cen­tral Hel­mand province yes­ter­day. One insur­gent was killed and sev­er­al more were detained dur­ing the oper­a­tion. The insur­gent was killed when he tried to engage the com­bined forces as they were mov­ing to secure the tar­get­ed com­pound. The tar­get of the search was a mem­ber of the Tal­iban mil­i­tary com­mis­sion who has a num­ber of sig­nif­i­cant sub­com­man­ders, offi­cials said. He also is a key facil­i­ta­tor of ammu­ni­tion and weapons and has claimed respon­si­bil­i­ty for attacks on Afghan and coali­tion forces through­out the province’s Lashkah Ghar district. 

— Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials con­firmed an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed Abdul Ahad, who planned sui­cide-bomber attacks, in cen­tral Hel­mand yes­ter­day. In addi­tion to plan­ning attacks, offi­cials said, Ahad also com­mand­ed a local Tal­iban cell. Act­ing on tips from Afghan civil­ians and intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force also detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing the oper­a­tion and killed two armed insur­gents who ran away from the com­pound to a near­by wood­ed area and pre­sent­ed hos­tile intent. 

— Also in Hel­mand, sev­er­al insur­gents were tar­get­ed today when they were seen arm­ing road­side bombs and fir­ing mor­tars at Afghan and coali­tion forces. Two armed insur­gents were seen arm­ing bombs on a road, then cam­ou­flag­ing their motor­cy­cle and hid­ing in an area over­look­ing the road. Afghan and coali­tion forces approached them, and the insur­gents were killed when they attempt­ed to engage the force. A near­by group of insur­gents that appeared to be sup­port­ing the bomb-plant­i­ng team engaged the force with mor­tar fire. Due to the ter­rain and posi­tion of the insur­gent mor­tar team, the Afghan and coali­tion force was unable to engage with direct-fire weapons, so they called for close-air sup­port. The result­ing air strike killed one insur­gent and wound­ed anoth­er. The wound­ed insur­gent was treat­ed for his injuries and tak­en by Afghan author­i­ties for processing. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces appre­hend­ed three sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province yes­ter­day while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der oper­at­ing in Mar­ja who facil­i­tates sup­plies for area fight­ers. The secu­ri­ty force also found 45 pounds of wet opi­um, which often is sold to fund the insurgency. 

— Act­ing on tips from Afghan civil­ians and intel­li­gence reports, an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained three sus­pect­ed insur­gents in cen­tral Hel­mand yes­ter­day. As the secu­ri­ty force was secur­ing the sus­pect­ed insur­gent com­pound, two armed insur­gents were seen run­ning to a near­by wood­ed area. When the two insur­gents showed hos­tile intent, the secu­ri­ty force shot and killed them. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured a Tal­iban com­man­der in Log­ar province yes­ter­day who direct­ed com­plex attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces. He also com­mand­ed fight­ers in Log­ar affil­i­at­ed with Hezb‑E Gul­bud­din, a group seek­ing to estab­lish a fun­da­men­tal­ist caliphate in Afghanistan. Two of his asso­ciates also were detained, and the secu­ri­ty force destroyed grenades, an assault rifle and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als found at the scene. 

— A part­nered Afghan and ISAF patrol con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike in on the out­skirts of Kan­da­har City in south­ern Afghanistan yes­ter­day, killing six insur­gents who had fired mor­tars on their posi­tion dur­ing dis­mount­ed oper­a­tions. A search of the area yield­ed four road­side bombs and 40 pounds of explo­sive material. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured two Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tors oper­at­ing in Kan­da­har City dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province. The secu­ri­ty force first tar­get­ed a facil­i­ta­tor known to dis­trib­ute mil­i­tary equip­ment and road­side bombs to area Tal­iban fight­ers. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the facil­i­ta­tor, along with sev­er­al of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force then tar­get­ed a near­by com­pound in pur­suit of the sec­ond facil­i­ta­tor, respon­si­ble for col­lect­ing infor­ma­tion rel­e­vant to the Tal­iban infor­ma­tion cam­paign in Kan­da­har City. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained him. — Act­ing on a tip, an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force found and cleared near­ly about 15 pounds of explo­sives hid­den in a clock in a mosque in Kan­da­har City today. 

— Act­ing on mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence reports and tips from Afghan civil­ians, an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained a senior Tal­iban com­man­der in Kun­duz province yes­ter­day. Maulawi Roshan is a known senior Tal­iban com­mand in the Gore Tapa area of Kun­duz, as well as six sur­round­ing dis­tricts. He is report­ed to be a senior mem­ber of the Tal­iban provin­cial com­mis­sion and acts as an ille­git­i­mate judge for the Tal­iban in the area. He has also been the deputy to the shad­ow gov­er­nor of Kun­duz province and has strong ties to senior Tal­iban lead­er­ship in Pak­istan. He also has been linked to a wide range of crim­i­nal activ­i­ties, includ­ing set­ting up ille­gal check­points to extort mon­ey from Afghan cit­i­zens to finance insur­gent activ­i­ties. With his unique ties to Pak­istan, he also is a vital link in the facil­i­ta­tion of mate­ri­als for road­side bombs and recruit­ing sui­cide bombers, offi­cials said. 

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

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