Afghanistan — Afghan, NATO Troops Remove Taliban Leaders From Fight

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2010 — Afghan and inter­na­tion­al forces today cap­tured a Tal­iban explo­sives expert who is believed to be a leader for insur­gent bomb-mak­ing efforts in Afghanistan’s Kan­da­har province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The com­bined force cap­tured the man and sev­er­al oth­er mil­i­tants just west of Kan­da­har City while search­ing a com­pound there. The man is believed to be “heav­i­ly involved” in bomb man­u­fac­tur­ing, emplace­ments and attacks through­out the area, offi­cials said. 

In oth­er news from Afghanistan:

— A com­bined force searched a com­pound in the town of Bazar‑e Pan­nivai in Kan­da­har province this morn­ing and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther questioning. 

— In Kandahar’s Zharay dis­trict this morn­ing, a com­bined patrol found a boo­by-trapped cache con­tain­ing two sui­cide vests, six grenades and eight assault rifles. 

— In War­dak province last night, a com­bined force searched a com­pound in the Sayed Abad dis­trict and cap­tured a heavy weapons traf­fick­er for the Haqqani ter­ror­ist group and an asso­ciate. The man is believed to be respon­si­ble for the sale and dis­tri­b­u­tion of weapons rang­ing from heavy machine guns to sniper rifles. The com­bined force also found sev­er­al auto­mat­ic rifles and Tal­iban propaganda. 

No shots were fired, and no one was injured dur­ing the operations. 

(Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand news releases.) 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)