Afghan, Coalition Troops Detain Insurgents Across Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 20, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces have cap­tured numer­ous insur­gent fight­ers through­out Afghanistan in recent days, and have killed sev­er­al oth­ers in fire fights, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

A com­bined Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force team killed one insur­gent and detained two sus­pects while search­ing for a Tal­iban com­mu­ni­ca­tions liai­son in the Now Zad dis­trict of Hel­mand province yesterday. 

Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, the secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of a Russ­ian PKM machine gun with 400 rounds of ammu­ni­tion, mul­ti­ple mor­tar rounds, pres­sure plates and an array of bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als with home­made explosives. 

In ISAF oper­a­tions in the north yesterday: 

– A com­bined secu­ri­ty force detained mul­ti­ple insur­gents dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader in the Chim­tal dis­trict of Balkh province. The leader is respon­si­ble for levy­ing ille­gal tax­es, extort­ing local com­pa­nies, order­ing attacks on Afghan forces, as well as coor­di­nat­ing with senior Tal­iban lead­ers in the region. 

– A com­bined force cap­tured an Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan leader and mul­ti­ple sus­pects in the Imam Sahib dis­trict of Kun­duz province. The leader is known for train­ing sui­cide bombers in the region. 

In oper­a­tions in the south yesterday: 

– Forces detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who pro­vides tac­ti­cal guid­ance to fight­ers, and reports to senior lead­er­ship. The secu­ri­ty force also seized bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and black tar hero­in, which will be dis­posed of. 

– A com­bined force detained a Tal­iban leader and mul­ti­ple insur­gents in Kandahar’s Pan­jwa’i dis­trict. The leader planned and exe­cut­ed road­side-bomb and direct-fire attacks against Afghan forces. 

– In Helmand’s Musa Qal’ah dis­trict, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force seized a drug cache con­sist­ing of 100 pounds of pop­py seeds, which will be destroyed. 

In oper­a­tions in the east yesterday: 

–�Combined Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Sayad Abad dis­trict of War­dak province. The leader was respon­si­ble for road­side-bomb and direct-fire attacks, as well as plan­ning abduc­tions through­out the region. Secu­ri­ty forces dis­cov­ered insur­gents, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, hid­ing in a tree line. Respond­ing to the threat, the secu­ri­ty force engaged, killing three insur­gents. After the engage­ment, the force seized mul­ti­ple weapons to include AK-47s and grenades. 

– In the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tia province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force detained a Haqqani net­work leader who recruit­ed young men and sent them to insur­gent train­ing camps, and was involved in attacks against Afghan forces. No civil­ians were injured dur­ing the operation. 

– In the Nerkh dis­trict of War­dak province, a com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan forces. 

– A com­bined force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Surkh Rod dis­trict of Nan­garhar province. The leader con­structs road­side bombs, spe­cial­iz­ing in remote-con­trolled bombs, and is respon­si­ble for their use in the region. 

– Ser­vice mem­bers dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province. Weapons seized dur­ing the oper­a­tion con­sist­ed of 116 pounds of explo­sive-mak­ing chem­i­cals, 69 small-arms weapons, one rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, 63 RPG rounds, 44 82 mm mor­tars, one grenade and var­i­ous weapons components. 

– In the Khugyani and Sherzad dis­tricts of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined force detained two Tal­iban lead­ers dur­ing Sept. 17 oper­a­tions. Both cap­tured lead­ers, one from the Khugyani dis­trict and the oth­er from Sherzad, were involved in traf­fick­ing vehi­cles, weapons and road­side-bomb com­po­nents through­out the area. 

Source:
From an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Release