Afghanistan — Coalition, Afghan Forces Rescue Prisoners

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2010 — A com­bined Afghan-coali­tion force was pur­su­ing a senior Tal­iban leader yes­ter­day when it found and res­cued sev­en impris­oned Afghan cit­i­zens dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province, mil­i­tary offi­cials said.

The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was a Tal­iban com­man­der believed to be respon­si­ble for rais­ing and dis­trib­ut­ing funds col­lect­ed from opi­um pro­duc­tion and extort­ing mon­ey from local Afghan cit­i­zens. Dur­ing the search for the tar­get, sev­en shack­led pris­on­ers were found by the patrol. The pris­on­ers were tak­en to an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force base where they received med­ical screen­ing and debrief­ing. Offi­cials from Afghanistan’s Min­istry of Inte­ri­or and ISAF are iden­ti­fy­ing the men and deter­min­ing their status. 

Before they entered the com­pound, the patrol made their pres­ence known, request­ing that any­one inside exit the com­pound. Two insur­gents attempt­ed to engage the force, and were killed. After search­ing the com­pound, the pris­on­ers were found along with sev­er­al impro­vised explo­sive devices, two AK-47 rifles, four 105 mm mor­tar rounds and a large amount of home­made explo­sives. The weapons were destroyed in place. 

In oth­er Sept. 2 news: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Kan­da­har province dur­ing pur­suit of a Tal­iban act­ing dis­trict com­man­der. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual took the posi­tion after Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured sev­er­al mem­bers of this net­work start­ing in May. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds in Kan­da­har City to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then cleared the com­pounds. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­en sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The assault force did not fire their weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der in Ghazni province. The subcommander’s cell con­ducts ambush­es, impro­vised explo­sive device attacks, and was linked to an indi­rect-fire attack against For­ward Oper­at­ing Base Ghazni in June. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound out­side the vil­lage of Are­zo in Ghazni dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er call­ing for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings and then cleared the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained the sub­com­man­der. The secu­ri­ty force found mul­ti­ple weapons at the scene. The assault force did not fire their weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Qalat dis­trict, Zab­ul province, while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der who is believed to have facil­i­tat­ed and coor­di­nat­ed IED attacks on High­way 1. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds off High­way 1 in the vil­lage of Khar Juy in pur­suit of the sub­com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er call­ing for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings and then cleared the com­pounds. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained four insur­gents. Mul­ti­ple weapons were found at the scene. The assault force did not fire their weapons dur­ing the oper­a­tion and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Khost province while in pur­suit of a Haqqani net­work sub­com­man­der believed to be respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing IED attacks that often harm inno­cent civil­ians. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Shinkay in Khost dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er call­ing for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings and then cleared the com­pounds. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained the insur­gents. The assault force did not fire their weapons and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Hel­mand province, includ­ing a Tal­iban mil­i­tary com­man­der believed to have direct ties to Tal­iban senior lead­er­ship based in Pak­istan. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound south­east of the vil­lage of Juy‑e Shahi in Lashkar Gah dis­trict in pur­suit of the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er call­ing for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings and then cleared the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained the com­man­der and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates. The assault force did not fire their weapons dur­ing the oper­a­tion and pro­tect­ed the women and chil­dren dur­ing the search. 

— An Afghan par­lia­men­tary can­di­date and one oth­er Afghan civil­ian were wound­ed fol­low­ing a grenade attack at the governor’s com­pound in Ghazni City. Moulana Abdul Rah­man, the par­lia­men­tary can­di­date, was wound­ed when a grenade explod­ed near his office. Haji Gull, an anes­the­si­ol­o­gy tech­ni­cian at Ghazni Hos­pi­tal, also was injured in the blast. The two were ini­tial­ly tak­en to Ghazni Hos­pi­tal to receive med­ical treat­ment, but lat­er were trans­ferred to For­ward Oper­at­ing Base Ghazni for fur­ther treat­ment. “These sense­less attacks will not derail the upcom­ing elec­tions and will not dis­suade Afghan cit­i­zens from choos­ing to serve their coun­try by seek­ing an elect­ed posi­tion with­in the gov­ern­ment of the Islam­ic Repub­lic of Afghanistan,” said Army Brig. Gen. Steve Townsend, deputy com­mand­ing gen­er­al for Region­al Com­mand-East and Com­bined Joint Task Force-101. The Afghan Nation­al Police is inves­ti­gat­ing the incident. 

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

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