Afghanistan — Combined Force Kills Insurgents in Wardak

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed two insur­gents, includ­ing a Tal­iban leader, and detained anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent in the Sayed Abad dis­trict of Afghanistan’s War­dak province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Abdul Baqi com­mand­ed a Tal­iban cell that con­duct­ed road­side-bomb attacks and set up ille­gal road­blocks tar­get­ing Afghan forces along High­way 1. Reports indi­cat­ed he was gath­er­ing intel­li­gence for sus­pect­ed attacks tar­get­ing Afghan gov­ern­ment employ­ees, offi­cials said. 

After track­ing Baqi to the Sayed Abad dis­trict, the com­bined force searched two com­pounds. Two armed insur­gents tried to flee while the force was secur­ing the first com­pound. A pur­suit ensued, and the force killed them, dis­cov­er­ing lat­er that Baqi was one of them. The force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent nearby. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— In Bagh­lan province’s Doshi dis­trict, a com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion killed sev­er­al armed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing the Taliban’s senior mil­i­tary com­man­der for Kun­duz province and for­mer com­man­der for the Cha­har Darah district. 

— A com­bined force in Hel­mand province’s Nahr Surkh dis­trict detained more than 10 insur­gents dur­ing a search for a senior Tal­iban mil­i­tary com­man­der for the Pan­jwai dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The force found 70 pounds of hero­in and detained the sus­pects after Afghan mem­bers of the force inter­viewed peo­ple in the area. 

— Also in Hel­mand province, a sep­a­rate force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban nar­cotics and weapons dealer. 

— In Helmand’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict, a coali­tion airstrike killed sev­er­al insur­gents who attacked a com­bined patrol. 

— A com­bined patrol in Kandahar’s Pan­jwai dis­trict found 1,200 pounds of marijuana. 

— In Kandahar’s Arghandab dis­trict, a com­bined patrol found two 82 mm recoil­less rifles, two pres­sure plates with wires, 400 7.62 mm rounds and a large rock­et, and detained two sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— In Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict a com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work attack facil­i­ta­tor and anoth­er sus­pect­ed insurgent.

– A com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence tips in Pak­tia province’s Zur­mat dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani net­work leader who man­ages fight­ers, exe­cutes tac­ti­cal insur­gent oper­a­tions and plans attacks against Afghan forces. 

— In Nan­garhar province’s Khugyani dis­trict, an Afghan-led com­bined force detained sev­er­al insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader involved in road­side-bomb attacks tar­get­ing Afghan forces. The force found and destroyed 15 pounds of wet opium. 

In May 21 operations: 

— A com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion killed an insur­gent and detained two oth­ers dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Ghazni province’s Rashidan dis­trict. The insur­gent, who was wear­ing a chest rack and was armed with an assault rifle and grenades, was killed as he opened fire on the force. — In Bagh­lan province’s Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict, a com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Hezb‑e Isla­mi Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion leader who com­mands 20 insur­gents for attacks against Afghan forces. 

— A com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence reports in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who plans attacks on Afghan forces and report­ed­ly has threat­ened civil­ians in the dis­trict with mur­der to intim­i­date them. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Qalat dis­trict, a com­bined force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban road­side-bomb cell leader. The force found bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als at the scene. 

— A com­bined force in Log­ar province’s Pul‑e Alam dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and two of his. The Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor also oper­at­ed in Logar’s Bara­ki Barak dis­trict and Pak­tia province’s Gardez dis­trict, train­ing oth­er insur­gents and par­tic­i­pat­ing in attacks against Afghan forces. Addi­tion­al­ly, he coor­di­nat­ed equip­ment ship­ments from Pak­istan to insur­gents active in Log­ar, Pak­tia, and Khost provinces. 

— In Khost province’s Khost dis­trict, a com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work road­side-bomb expert and anoth­er suspected. 

— A com­bined force in Khost’s Sabari dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani net­work leader respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing plant­i­ng road­side bombs and acquir­ing weapons for insur­gents. The force also con­fis­cat­ed a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, mul­ti­ple mines and grenades. 

— In Nan­garhar province’s Khugyani dis­trict, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insurgents. 

— A com­bined force in Pak­ti­ka province’s Giyan dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents after search­ing sev­er­al build­ings in Pir Koti Val­ley for Tal­iban activity. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces found sev­er­al weapons caches in Uruz­gan province’s Chorah dis­trict. The caches includ­ed 58 grenades, 13 grenades fus­es, four radios, nine radio hand­sets, pro­pel­lant and sev­er­al fuses. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict, a com­bined force found and destroyed 11,023 pounds of hashish. 

— A three-day com­bined oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict led to dis­cov­ery of 33 pres­sure plates, two assault rifles, 600 7.62 mm rounds, a rock­et pro­pelled-grenade launch­er, four RPGs, a machine gun, sev­er­al road­side bombs, two 105 mm rounds filled with home­made explo­sives and var­i­ous bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Sev­er­al sus­pect­ed were detained. 

In May 20 operations: 

— A com­bined force killed Tal­iban leader named Alawud­din in Bagh­lan province’s Talah wa Bar­fak dis­trict, Bagh­lan province. Alawud­din worked with groups of Tal­iban fight­ers to attack Afghan police and coali­tion forces in efforts to regain ter­rain the Tal­iban have lost. Armed with an assault rifle Alawud­din attacked an Afghan mem­ber of the secu­ri­ty force and was killed as an Afghan sol­dier iden­ti­fied the hos­tile threat and engaged him. 

— In Hel­mand province’s Lashkar Gah dis­trict a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion. — A com­bine force in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader who coor­di­nat­ed fight­ers for attacks and assist­ed them in prepar­ing ambush­es against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— Also in Khost’s Sabari dis­trict, a com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani leader who has par­tic­i­pat­ed in attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and is involved in coor­di­nat­ing plant­i­ng of road­side bombs. 

— In Pak­ti­ka province’s Orgun dis­trict, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed Haqqani insur­gents dur­ing a clear­ance oper­a­tion in an area asso­ci­at­ed with Haqqani activity. 

— A com­bined force in Badghis province’s Murghab dis­trict cap­tured a senior Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion yes­ter­day. The insur­gent leader is the Taliban’s appoint­ed deputy gov­ern­ing offi­cial for oper­a­tions in the dis­trict and also con­duct­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

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

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