Afghanistan — Troops Kill Enemy Fighters, Find Weapons

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2011 — Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force troops in south­ern Afghanistan killed or wound­ed sev­er­al insur­gents over the past 24 hours, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Dur­ing sep­a­rate clear­ing oper­a­tions in Hel­mand province, insur­gents engaged three ISAF patrols with small-arms fire and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades in the province’s San­gin and Kaja­ki dis­tricts. Coali­tion forces returned fire and called for air sup­port. The air weapons team sup­port­ing ground forces engaged the ene­my posi­tions, killing the insur­gents. Afghan and ISAF forces also dis­cov­ered sev­er­al caches in south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan. 

In Hel­mand, Uruz­gan, Kan­da­har, Pak­ti­ka and Zab­ul provinces, Afghan forces and ISAF patrols found three assault rifles, 20 full assault-rifle mag­a­zines, 3,000 small-arms rounds, two machine guns, 22 mor­tar rounds, three artillery rounds, 34 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, a rock­et, 17 RPG boost­ers, five RPG war­heads, two anti-per­son­nel mines and loose ammu­ni­tion. In addi­tion, forces found 10 bomb det­o­na­tors, home­made explo­sives, 100 pounds of the banned ammo­ni­um nitrate fer­til­iz­er often used in mak­ing explo­sives, 10 jugs of shrap­nel and ball bear­ings, sev­er­al elec­tron­ic com­po­nents, mul­ti­ple pres­sure plates and three chest racks. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban leader along with sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kan­da­har province’s Arghandab dis­trict. The Tal­iban leader was respon­si­ble for stor­ing and dis­trib­ut­ing ene­my sup­plies and con­duct­ing attacks against coali­tion forces. He was asso­ci­at­ed with the district’s Tal­iban lead­ers, and report­ed­ly had acquired bomb com­po­nents, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er and oth­er equip­ment from a Tal­iban insur­gent for an upcom­ing attack, offi­cials said. The com­bined secu­ri­ty force killed an armed insur­gent who threat­ened them dur­ing the operation. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban leader in Ghazni province’s Gelan dis­trict, along with sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The Tal­iban dis­trict leader was respon­si­ble for plan­ning, coor­di­nat­ing and con­duct­ing attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces 

— In Takhar province’s Khwa­jah Ghar dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents and killed sev­er­al armed com­bat­ants while search­ing for a high-rank­ing senior leader of the Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion who spe­cial­izes in bomb­ing attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and coor­di­nates the dis­trict Tal­iban leader’s move­ments, offi­cials said. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources led the secu­ri­ty force to a build­ing where armed com­bat­ants engaged them with small-arms fire. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire, killing sev­er­al armed com­bat­ants. The build­ing caught fire and was rocked by mul­ti­ple explo­sions. Vil­lagers told the secu­ri­ty force the Tal­iban forcibly took over the building’s guest house. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces seek­ing a Tal­iban bomb man­u­fac­tur­er in War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— In Nim­roz province’s Khash Rod dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while seek­ing a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for weapons facilitation. 

— ISAF troops killed numer­ous insur­gents after receiv­ing small-arms fire dur­ing a dis­mount­ed patrol in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict. ISAF forces returned fire and called in close air sup­port to sup­press the insur­gent fire. An insur­gent wound­ed in the engage­ment was tak­en to a med­ical facil­i­ty and detained. 

In oth­er news, Afghan forces and U.S. Navy SEALs con­duct­ed rou­tine patrols in Zab­ul province Jan. 23, result­ing in numer­ous insur­gents killed, sev­er­al oth­ers detained, and the destruc­tion of numer­ous home­made bombs. 

The insur­gents were killed and detained when Afghan sol­diers advised by SEALs were involved in an engage­ment with insur­gents in the province’s Khak‑e Afghan district. 

On a sep­a­rate patrol in Naw­ba­har dis­trict Afghan police, part­nered with Afghan sol­diers and U.S. Navy SEALs, found and destroyed three home­made bombs. 

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

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