Afghan, Coalition Forces Wrap Up Helmand Clearing Operation

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2010 — Afghan and coali­tion forces in south­ern Afghanistan com­plet­ed a three-day delib­er­ate clear­ing oper­a­tion today aimed at dis­rupt­ing the Taliban’s free­dom of move­ment in Hel­mand province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The oper­a­tion focused on an area near the vil­lage Kaja­ki Sofla in the province’s Kaja­ki dis­trict. Sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained for questioning. 

The com­bined force encoun­tered ene­my con­tact and returned fire, killing mul­ti­ple ene­my fight­ers, offi­cials said. 

Ongo­ing ene­my con­tact pre­vent­ed the secu­ri­ty force from con­duct­ing bat­tle dam­age assess­ments of the engage­ment areas, but esti­mat­ed that at least 10 ene­my fight­ers were killed. In oth­er news from Afghanistan: 

— Numer­ous insur­gents were killed and detained dur­ing a com­bined Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force delib­er­ate oper­a­tion in the Arghis­tan dis­trict of Kan­da­har province yes­ter­day. The oper­a­tion last­ed more than 18 hours and result­ed in more than 15 insur­gents killed, 14 detained and numer­ous weapons, ammu­ni­tion and explo­sives confiscated. 

— An ISAF air strike destroyed more than 5 tons of home­made explo­sives in Helmand’s Reg‑e Khan Neshin dis­trict yes­ter­day. After intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion from mul­ti­ple sources indi­cat­ed that the facil­i­ty, which was destroyed in Sep­tem­ber, had been rebuilt and was again being used to pro­duce home­made explo­sives, ISAF forces watched the facil­i­ty for hours to ensure there were no civil­ians in the area, and then con­duct­ed the air strike. Ini­tial reports indi­cat­ed no civil­ians were harmed, offi­cials said. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban for­eign fight­er facil­i­ta­tor and road­side-bomb expert oper­at­ing in Farah province yes­ter­day. Intel­li­gence tips helped the secu­ri­ty force track the facil­i­ta­tor to an area out­side the province’s Bak­wah dis­trict, where they detained him along with two of his associates. 

— ISAF offi­cials con­firmed the cap­ture of a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tor for the move­ment of vehi­cles and nar­cotics dur­ing a Nov. 5 oper­a­tion in Pak­ti­ka province. The secu­ri­ty force also detained sev­er­al of his associates. 

— An ISAF air strike killed numer­ous insur­gents in Helmand’s Now Zad dis­trict Nov. 6. The air strike tar­get­ed a senior Tal­iban leader who plans and coor­di­nates attacks against Afghan and ISAF forces. He also facil­i­tates the dis­tri­b­u­tion of bomb com­po­nents and dis­trib­utes mon­ey to Tal­iban fight­ers and is a mem­ber of the Now Zad area shad­ow gov­er­nance, includ­ing over­sight of Tal­iban judi­cial pro­ceed­ings. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources led to his loca­tion. After watch­ing him for sev­er­al days, ISAF forces con­duct­ed the air strike when the leader was in an open area with two oth­er insur­gents. Ini­tial reports indi­cat­ed no civil­ians were harmed dur­ing the oper­a­tion, offi­cials said. 

— A part­nered Afghan and ISAF patrol killed numer­ous insur­gents in Helmand’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict Nov. 6. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources and tips from local res­i­dents led the com­bined force to a com­pound where a Tal­iban leader was thought to be locat­ed. The Tal­iban leader is known to plan and par­tic­i­pate in plant­i­ng road­side bombs and attack­ing coali­tion forces. He also facil­i­tates the dis­tri­b­u­tion of weapons, ammu­ni­tion and bombs to Tal­iban fight­ers. Four armed insur­gents were killed as they attempt­ed to engage the secu­ri­ty force. Numer­ous auto­mat­ic weapons, grenades and a sui­cide vest were found and destroyed at the scene, and two sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained. 

— A com­bined Afghan and ISAF patrol killed a dis­trict-lev­el Tal­iban leader and anoth­er insur­gent in Uruz­gan province Nov. 6. The Tal­iban leader was a dis­trict-lev­el leader and shad­ow dis­trict chief of Deh Rawud dis­trict in Uruz­gan province. He planned, coor­di­nat­ed, and resourced all dis­trict-lev­el mil­i­tary oper­a­tions against Afghan and ISAF forces. He direct­ed numer­ous Tal­iban cell lead­ers and was the link between senior-lev­el Tal­iban lead­ers in Pak­istan and local Tal­iban insur­gents. He also facil­i­tat­ed and direct­ed the dis­tri­b­u­tion of weapons, ammu­ni­tion, bombs and mon­ey. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources led the secu­ri­ty force to an insur­gent meet­ing site. As the secu­ri­ty force arrived, the Tal­iban leader and an asso­ciate tried to flee on a motor­cy­cle, but ran into anoth­er ele­ment of the secu­ri­ty force. The armed insur­gents attempt­ed to engage the secu­ri­ty force and were killed. Dur­ing a search of the area, the patrol found two auto­mat­ic weapons and asso­ci­at­ed ammu­ni­tion. Numer­ous men were detained for questioning. 

— Coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents who were tak­ing up a fight­ing posi­tion in Kunar province’s Darah ye Pech dis­trict yes­ter­day. After pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fy­ing the insur­gent posi­tion, coali­tion forces used air­craft and small-arms fire to elim­i­nate the ene­my threat. All rounds were report­ed safe and on tar­get. Ini­tial reports indi­cat­ed there are no civil­ian injuries, offi­cials said. 

—Also in Kunar yes­ter­day, Afghan sol­diers and coali­tion forces detained 17 Afghans who tried to gain access to a con­struc­tion site while car­ry­ing rifles, rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­ers and muni­tions in the province’s Ghazi­abad dis­trict. The com­bined forces checked with the Afghan con­struc­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tive, who ver­i­fied the men did not work for him. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing a Tal­iban senior leader who com­mands about 20 fight­ers in Ghazni province’s Andar and Ghazni dis­tricts detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion yes­ter­day. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual reg­u­lar­ly fills in for the Tal­iban dis­trict leader for Ghazni when the lat­ter hides in Pak­istan, offi­cials said. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the com­bined force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the Andar dis­trict to search for the senior leader and killed a man after he charged at them. The secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing the operation. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing the Tal­iban dis­trict leader for War­dak province’s Chak‑e War­dak dis­trict detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven overnight oper­a­tion Nov. 6. The assault force also found and destroyed 15 gal­lons of nitric acid, along with mul­ti­ple weapons. 

— In Log­ar province, a com­bined force tar­get­ing a Tal­iban senior leader who com­mands at least 20 fight­ers in the Bara­ki Barak and Charkh dis­tricts detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven overnight oper­a­tion Nov. 6. 

— In Khost province, a com­bined force tar­get­ing a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor who plans and exe­cutes attacks in the province’s Sabari and Musa Khel dis­tricts detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents and found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons at the scene Nov. 6. 

— A part­nered Afghan-coali­tion force tar­get­ing a senior Tal­iban leader who coor­di­nates and con­ducts attacks in Kan­da­har province’s Dand and Pan­jwai dis­tricts detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ve overnight oper­a­tion Nov. 6. The Tal­iban leader also is respon­si­ble for dis­trib­ut­ing mate­ri­als to his sub­or­di­nates in the area. 

— An Afghan and ISAF patrol arrest­ed an insur­gent leader and two of his asso­ciates in Log­ar province’s Muham­mad Aghah dis­trict Nov. 5. The insur­gent leader was want­ed on an Afghan gov­ern­ment war­rant for alleged­ly plan­ning and exe­cut­ing attacks against Afghan and ISAF. He also alleged­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in the kid­nap­ping of an Afghan civil­ian who was tor­tured and killed in retal­i­a­tion for anoth­er insurgent’s death. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing a senior Tal­iban senior leader who plans, coor­di­nates and con­ducts attacks in Helmand’s Musa Qalah dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven overnight oper­a­tion iNov. 6. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Shah Joy dis­trict, a com­bined force tar­get­ing a senior Tal­iban senior leader who oper­ates a road­side-bomb net­work detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion Nov. 6. 

— In Pak­ti­ka province, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ing a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor for the move­ment of vehi­cles and nar­cotics in sup­port of the net­work detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents Nov. 6. 

— Also in Pak­ti­ka on Nov. 6, anoth­er secu­ri­ty force searched in the Zor­mat dis­trict for a Haqqani-affil­i­at­ed Tal­iban senior leader who coor­di­nates sui­cide bombings. 

— ISAF offi­cials con­firmed the cap­ture dur­ing a Nov. 4 intel­li­gence-dri­ven overnight oper­a­tion in Ghazni province’s provin­cial cap­i­tal of a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who planned and facil­i­tat­ed sui­cide-bomber attacks.

Offi­cials said Afghan and coali­tion forces pro­tect­ed any women and chil­dren who were present dur­ing the operations. 

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

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