Afghan, Coalition Troops Detain Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2010 — Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force troops detained sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Intel­li­gence sources and tips from cit­i­zens led a com­bined force to two vehi­cles with sus­pect­ed insur­gents in them. After the com­bined force stopped the vehi­cles, they were fired upon by some of the indi­vid­u­als as they exit­ed the vehi­cles and attempt­ed to run away. 

Afghan and coali­tion forces pur­sued the flee­ing insur­gents and detained them with­out inci­dent. Dur­ing a search of the vehi­cles and sus­pect­ed insur­gents, the com­bined force found 20 kilo­grams of wet opi­um and impro­vised explo­sive device com­po­nents. The nar­cotics and bomb com­po­nents were destroyed on site. The men were detained by Afghan author­i­ties for pro­cess­ing and fur­ther questioning. 

In oth­er Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Act­ing on intel­li­gence reports and tips from cit­i­zens, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province. The forces detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gents at a com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with a senior Tal­iban com­man­der in the area. He has coor­di­nat­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces, and over­sees the emplace­ment of impro­vised explo­sive devices in the area. Upon secur­ing of the com­pound, the force called-out the inhab­i­tants mul­ti­ple times in order to allow them to peace­ful­ly exit the build­ing. After get­ting no response, the Afghan and coali­tion forces entered the com­pound, and were then con­front­ed by an armed insur­gent. They engaged the insur­gent, killing him. Short­ly there­after, sev­er­al men, women and chil­dren exit­ed the build­ing. The men were sep­a­rat­ed and ques­tioned, while the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed. The joint secu­ri­ty group con­tin­ued through the com­pound, detain­ing sev­er­al men and pro­tect­ing a total of 10 women and 15 chil­dren. Nine men were detained because they test­ed pos­i­tive for han­dling explosives. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces found and destroyed large weapons caches in Nan­garhar and Zab­ul provinces. A com­bined force found and destroyed a cache in the Khugyani dis­trict of Nan­garhar that includ­ed: 11 82 mm mor­tars, sev­en anti-tank mines, 23 kilo­grams of explo­sives, 23 kilo­grams of pro­pel­lant, two recoil­less rifle rounds and two remote det­o­na­tors. In the Qalat dis­trict of Zab­ul province, a com­bined patrol found and destroyed a cache con­sist­ing of: 21 107 mm rock­ets, nine rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, two anti-tank mines and an RPG launcher. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province in their con­tin­ued pur­suit of a dual-hat­ted Tal­iban civ­il and mil­i­tary com­man­der for the Lashkar Gah and Nahr‑e Saraj dis­tricts. The recent­ly appoint­ed com­man­der was forced to take over the role of mil­i­tary com­man­der after his pre­de­ces­sor was cap­tured ear­li­er this month. Intel­li­gence reports led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Moham­mad Jan Kalay in Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Pak­ti­ka province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der linked to impro­vised explo­sive device and sui­cide. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a remote com­pound in Mota Khan dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After con­duct­ing ini­tial ques­tion­ing with the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents. They also found mul­ti­ple weapons and 50 pounds of explo­sives at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured a Haqqani Net­work facil­i­ta­tor known to make and dis­trib­ute impro­vised explo­sive device mate­ri­als through­out the province, dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Khost province. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in Khost dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the facil­i­ta­tor along with two of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force also dis­cov­ered mul­ti­ple weapons and mag­a­zines, along with a grenade at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained two insur­gents in Kan­da­har province, includ­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for mov­ing impro­vised explo­sive device sup­plies from Pak­istan to Kan­da­har City. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in Spin Boldak dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the facil­i­ta­tor and one of his associates. 

— ISAF con­firmed one Afghan civil­ian was killed by an ISAF ser­vice­mem­ber in the Ali Sheng dis­trict of Lagh­man province Sept. 26. An inves­ti­ga­tion is ongo­ing into the cir­cum­stances of the man’s death. “We take alle­ga­tions of civil­ian casu­al­ties very seri­ous­ly and we will con­duct a thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion of this iso­lat­ed inci­dent,” said Maj. Patrick Seiber, Com­bined Joint Task Force-101 and Region­al Com­mand-East spokesman. “We make every effort to ensure the pro­tec­tion of Afghan civil­ians and will take the steps nec­es­sary to pre­vent an inci­dent like this from hap­pen­ing again in the future.” In Sept. 25 Afghanistan news: 

— An air weapons team engaged a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of insur­gents fol­low­ing an attack on a remote Afghan secu­ri­ty force out­post in Khost province. The Nar­izah out­post came under attack, receiv­ing direct and indi­rect fire from the Pak­istan side of the bor­der. An air weapons team in the area observed the ene­my fire and engaged the ene­my in the bor­der area under the right of self defense. The engage­ment result­ed in more than 30 insur­gents killed. After the engage­ment, addi­tion­al ISAF heli­copters arrived to con­duct an aer­i­al assess­ment and received small-arms fire again. The air­craft returned fire result­ing in sev­er­al addi­tion­al insur­gents killed. Ini­tial reports indi­cate no civil­ians were injured or killed dur­ing the oper­a­tion. At no time dur­ing the engage­ment did ground forces cross into Pak­istani territory. 

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

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