Afghanistan — Force Repels Attack on Reconstruction Team in Herat

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces repelled an attack on the provin­cial recon­struc­tion team head­quar­ters in the Her­at dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Her­at province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Sev­er­al insur­gents attacked the team’s head­quar­ters with a vehi­cle-borne bomb and small-arms fire. Afghan and coali­tion forces returned fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents.

Sev­er­al coali­tion ser­vice mem­bers were wound­ed dur­ing the attack and were evac­u­at­ed to a med­ical facil­i­ty, offi­cials said. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yes­ter­day:
— A com­bined force in Pak­tia province’s Zur­mat dis­trict killed an insur­gent and detained sev­er­al oth­ers while search­ing for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader who man­ages fight­ers and sup­plies, exe­cutes tac­ti­cal guid­ance and plans attacks against the Afghan army. The force also seized 26 anti-per­son­nel mines, a shot­gun, mul­ti­ple pis­tols and chest racks. 

— A com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kun­duz province’s Cha­har Darah dis­trict dur­ing an oper­a­tion to cap­ture a Tal­iban leader who facil­i­tates for­eign sui­cide bombers, includ­ing Chechens and Pak­ista­nis, through­out the province. 

— A com­bined force in Kan­da­har province’s Spin Boldak dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. The force also seized and destroyed 100 pounds of heroin. 

— In Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict, a com­bined force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Haqqani leader who coor­di­nates attacks against the Afghan army. 

— Also in Khost province, an Afghan-led force in the Musa Khel dis­trict detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while look­ing for sev­er­al Haqqani lead­ers respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces and fight­er facilitation. 

In oper­a­tions May 29:
— A com­bined force in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict cap­tured a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for the trans­fer of weapons and explo­sives in prepa­ra­tion for Haqqani attacks. He also coor­di­nat­ed home­made-bomb attacks tar­get­ing Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. The force also found an assault rifle, a pis­tol, mul­ti­ple chest racks and ammunition. 

— A com­bined force in Balkh province’s Cha­har Bolak dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who pre­pares attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces using explo­sive devices, mines and con­ven­tion­al weapons. 

— A com­bined force in Imam Sahib dis­trict detained sev­er­al insur­gents while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who sup­ports an insur­gent attack cell through­out cen­tral and north­ern Kun­duz province. The net­work he sup­ports con­sists of insur­gents direct­ly involved in home­made-bomb and sui­cide-bomber attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined force in Hel­mand province’s Musa Qaleh dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who is the key com­man­der in the dis­trict, pro­vid­ing tac­ti­cal direc­tion, logis­ti­cal sup­port and com­mand over­sight for insur­gents in that area. He also is involved in weapons and explo­sive-device facil­i­ta­tion, home­made-bomb attacks and fund­ing pro­cure­ment for the Musa Qaleh-based insurgency. 

— A com­bined force in Uruz­gan province’s Deh Rawud dis­trict detained a man and seized 320 pounds of opi­um, 44 pounds of hashish, 1,654 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate – a banned fer­til­iz­er used in mak­ing explo­sives — and an assault rifle. 

–Com­bined forces in cen­tral Hel­mand province detained three men, and seized 657 pounds of opi­um and 176 pounds of wet opium. 

— A com­bined force in Pak­ti­ka province’s Bermel dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in an area his­tor­i­cal­ly known as an insur­gent facil­i­ta­tion and train­ing center. 

— A com­bined force in Pak­tia province’s Zor­mat dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion to cap­ture a Haqqani leader who man­ages fight­ers, exe­cutes tac­ti­cal insur­gent oper­a­tions and plans attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined force in Nan­garhar province’s Khugyani dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for plant­i­ng road­side bombs tar­get­ing secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined force in War­dak province’s Chak dis­trict detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who par­tic­i­pat­ed in and coor­di­nat­ed attacks against secu­ri­ty forces, and who also coor­di­nates train­ing for sub­or­di­nate Tal­iban insur­gents. The force also found and destroyed a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, mor­tar round, grenade, chest rack and mul­ti­ple rounds of small-arms ammunition. 

In oper­a­tions May 28:
— Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed and an insur­gent was detained in Kun­duz after an attempt to ambush Afghan local police can­di­dates. Insur­gent forces attacked the can­di­dates with small-arms fire, indi­rect fire and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades as they trav­eled to their sched­uled train­ing, offi­cials said. The Larkhabi Afghan local police and U.S. spe­cial oper­a­tions forces ele­ments respond­ed to the ambush with indi­rect fire. Afghan com­man­dos and oth­er Spe­cial Forces ele­ments arrived and sur­round­ed the insur­gents. As a result of the attack, one stu­dent died and sev­en oth­ers were wound­ed. The com­man­dos seized five assault rifles and a machine gun. 

— A com­bined force in Khost province’s Musa Khel dis­trict killed a woman armed with a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while clear­ing a com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with a Hezb‑E Isla­mi Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion leader for insur­gents in the Qalan­dar and Musa Khel dis­tricts. The force also found mul­ti­ple RPG war­heads, grenades and a bag filled with 7.62 mm rounds. 

— A com­bined force in Balkh province’s Chim­tal dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a senior Tal­iban leader who is the province’s Tal­iban-appoint­ed insur­gent secu­ri­ty chief. He leads 10 to 18 fight­ers and con­ducts small-arms, indi­rect-fire and home­made-bomb attacks against Afghan police. The leader also is involved in weapons and explo­sives pro­cure­ment and nar­cotics traf­fick­ing. The force also found and destroyed 50 pounds of unprocessed heroin. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Shah Joy dis­trict, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion to tar­get a Tal­iban leader who leads a core group of insur­gent fight­ers aug­ment­ed by al-Qai­da-asso­ci­at­ed for­eign fight­ers assem­bled in Quet­ta, Pakistan. 

— A com­bined force in Zab­ul province’s Zur­mat dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani leader who man­ages fight­ers, exe­cutes tac­ti­cal insur­gent oper­a­tions and plans attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict, a com­bined patrol found 4,409 pounds of marijuana. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har dis­trict, a com­bined force found a 60 mm mor­tar round, a 120 mm mor­tar round, an RPG and 10 60-gal­lons bags filled with home­made explo­sive materials. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict, a com­bined patrol found three vic­tim-oper­at­ed home­made bombs and a large amount of bomb-mak­ing materials. 

— A com­bined force in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion to tar­get a Haqqani leader involved in home­made-bomb and direct attacks against the Afghan army. 

In oper­a­tions May 27:
— Dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Khost province’s Man­duzai dis­trict, a com­bined force killed Moham­mad Umar, a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing Haqqani insur­gents with weapons, ammu­ni­tion and explo­sives. The force also detained two sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— In Sar‑e Pul province’s Sar‑e Pul dis­trict, a com­bined force killed sev­er­al Tal­iban insur­gents and detained two oth­ers while search­ing for a senior Tal­iban leader who is the Balkh province’s Tal­iban-appoint­ed deputy gov­er­nor and orga­nizes attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. He also coor­di­nates home­made-bomb acqui­si­tion, con­struc­tion and emplace­ment, and facil­i­tates small-arms pur­chas­es, trans­port and employ­ment. The force also found and destroyed sev­er­al rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and boost­ers, assault rifles and chest racks. 

— A com­bined force in Kun­duz province’s Imam Sahib dis­trict detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing an oper­a­tion to tar­get a Tal­iban leader who facil­i­tates trans­porta­tion of home­made-bomb com­po­nents and directs bomb emplace­ment tar­get­ing Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. He also sup­ports Tal­iban and Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan networks. 

— In Hel­mand province’s Musa Qalah dis­trict, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who is the district’s key com­man­der and pro­vides tac­ti­cal direc­tion, logis­ti­cal sup­port and com­mand over­sight for insur­gents in the area. He also is involved in home­made-bomb and weapons facil­i­ta­tion and attacks against secu­ri­ty forces, and pro­vides fund­ing to insur­gency in the district. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Shah Joy dis­trict, a com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who com­mands fight­ers and facil­i­ta­tors in the dis­trict, coor­di­nates Tal­iban activ­i­ties and sup­ports home­made-bomb cells through­out the province. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force in Kan­da­har province cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and facil­i­ta­tor and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing oper­a­tions in Pan­jwai dis­trict and Kan­da­har city. The facil­i­ta­tor was respon­si­ble for weapons acqui­si­tion and was involved in direct attacks against secu­ri­ty forces. In near­by Pan­jwai dis­trict, an Afghan-led secu­ri­ty force searched for a Tal­iban leader in a com­pound in the district. 

— In Pak­ti­ka province’s Orgun dis­trict, a com­bined force cap­tured sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents and a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor who pro­vides facil­i­ties and bed-down loca­tions for insur­gent fight­ers while they coor­di­nate future attacks in the district. 

— In War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents and found weapons while search­ing for two Tal­iban lead­ers. One of the lead­ers is respon­si­ble for facil­i­tat­ing weapons, coor­di­nat­ing attacks and con­duct­ing attacks against Afghan forces. The oth­er leader is respon­si­ble for recruit­ing new fight­ers, coor­di­nat­ing attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces and facil­i­tat­ing the move­ment of weapons. The force found home­made bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, a 107 mm rock­et and an assault rifle. 

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

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter