Afghans Turn-in Numerous Weapons, Explosives

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2010 — A weapons cache and explo­sive mate­r­i­al were tak­en out of ene­my hands after locals turned in the items in east­ern and south­ern Afghanistan today and yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Today, a man brought 65 direc­tion­al frag­men­ta­tion charges to a com­bat out­post in Kan­da­har province. The charges appear to have been mass pro­duced and had det­o­na­tion cords attached to them. The charges have been safe­guard­ed in a destruc­tion pit and will be destroyed in place. Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials encour­age peo­ple who find weapons to alert ser­vice­mem­bers and not han­dle the devices. 

In east­ern Afghanistan yes­ter­day, a tip from an Afghan civil­ian about a pos­si­ble cache in the Gardez dis­trict of Pak­tiya province led to the dis­cov­ery of a large jug of home­made explo­sive mate­r­i­al and sev­er­al artillery rounds. Explo­sive ord­nance dis­pos­al teams were dis­patched to the loca­tions and the chem­i­cals were safe­ly destroyed with no harm to civil­ians in the area. 

“This is a great exam­ple of Afghans using the Guardians of Peace pro­gram,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Tor­res, ISAF Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor. The pro­gram encour­ages Afghan civil­ians to use local tip lines to call Afghan and coali­tion forces and alert them to the pres­ence of ille­gal weapons and explosives. 

The Guardians of Peace allows Afghan cit­i­zens to report any ille­gal weapons or Tal­iban activ­i­ty anony­mous­ly. When their infor­ma­tion is con­firmed, they will be mon­e­tar­i­ly reward­ed for use­ful infor­ma­tion. Almost $1 mil­lion has been paid to Afghan civil­ians under the pro­gram so far, pro­gram offi­cials said. 

In oth­er Afghanistan news today: 

— ISAF con­firmed the Oct. 10 cap­ture of a Tal­iban leader who coor­di­nat­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Nim­roz province. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a remote com­pound in the Khash Rod dis­trict to search for the sus­pect. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, the force detained the man along with four insur­gents. The force also found grenades and a pis­tol, along with a sig­nif­i­cant amount of Iran­ian cur­ren­cy at the scene. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban senior leader who leads up to 20 fight­ers in the Sis­tani area of Mar­jah dis­trict, along with two of his asso­ciates, dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province. Intel­li­gence tips led the force to a remote com­pound in Mar­jah dis­trict to search for the man. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, the force iden­ti­fied and detained the tar­get­ed man along with his associates. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader involved in ambush oper­a­tions against coali­tion force con­voys and check­points, along with two of his asso­ciates, dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Pak­tiya province. The man also is sus­pect­ed of work­ing with sui­cide bombers and IEDs. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the force tar­get­ed a com­pound north­west of Shakar Kheyl in Zur­mat dis­trict to search for the sus­pect. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the joint force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the Tal­iban leader and his associates. 

— ISAF con­firmed the Oct. 8 cap­ture of an Uruz­gan-based Tal­iban senior leader dur­ing a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province. The man was released from prison in Sep­tem­ber 2009, but had since re-assumed his role as a Tal­iban senior leader. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a remote com­pound in the Spin Boldak dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly, then secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing, the force detained the man along with four of his associates. 

— Eight peo­ple were wound­ed and one killed after a rock­et-pro­pelled-grenade was fired at an ISAF heli­copter in Kunar province. The CH-47 Chi­nook heli­copter had just land­ed and was off-load­ing through the rear ramp when an insur­gent RPG was fired into the car­go bay. The explo­sion result­ed in one Afghan inter­preter killed, sev­en ISAF ser­vice­mem­bers and one Afghan Bor­der Police mem­ber wound­ed. There were 26 peo­ple on the air­craft. The land­ing site has been secured by Afghan and ISAF soldiers. 

— Com­bined forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in five overnight oper­a­tions in south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan tar­get­ing Tal­iban and Haqqani Net­work lead­er­ship. An Afghan and coali­tion patrol detained sev­er­al insur­gents in War­dak province while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader who over­sees sui­cide bombers and vehi­cle-borne IED attacks. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the Nerkh dis­trict to search for the man. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the suspecteds. 

A sep­a­rate secu­ri­ty force in Khost tar­get­ed a Haqqani Net­work leader who coor­di­nates attacks using rock­ets, recoil­less rifles and machine guns. The force searched a series of com­pounds in the Sabari dis­trict before detain­ing two sus­pects with­out inci­dent. The force found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons at the scene. 

In south­ern Afghanistan, secu­ri­ty forces con­duct­ed three oper­a­tions in Kan­da­har and Zab­ul provinces. In Kan­da­har City, a secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a Tal­iban senior leader who dis­trib­utes weapons and coor­di­nates attacks with Tal­iban asso­ciates in the city. The oper­a­tion result­ed in one sus­pect. In Zab­ul province, one sus­pect­ed insur­gent was detained in the Shah Joy dis­trict as the force searched for a Tal­iban IED and weapons facil­i­ta­tor in the Qalat and Shah Joy districts. 

The secu­ri­ty force moved to anoth­er com­pound and con­tin­ued their search of a Tal­iban senior leader involved in IED attacks along High­way 1. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insurgent. 

In yesterday’s operations: 

— An insur­gent-placed IED killed an Afghan civil­ian when the vehi­cle he was trav­el­ing in struck the device in Khost province. Accord­ing to ini­tial reports, the vic­tim was a con­struc­tion con­trac­tor work­ing on a project at an ISAF com­bat outpost. 

— Coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion airstrike in the Gor Tap­pa area of Kun­duz province tar­get­ing a Tal­iban senior leader. The sus­pect is believed respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. Based on intel­li­gence sources, coali­tion forces tracked mul­ti­ple insur­gents to a remote area of Kun­duz dis­trict. After ver­i­fy­ing insur­gent activ­i­ty and care­ful plan­ning to ensure no civil­ians were present, coali­tion air­craft con­duct­ed the pre­ci­sion air strike, killing two insur­gents. ISAF still is gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion to con­firm the results of the strike. ISAF will pro­vide updates as they become available. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces made three large weapons cache and drug finds in Lagh­man and Kan­da­har provinces. Dur­ing a com­bined mount­ed patrol, Afghan Bor­der Police con­fis­cat­ed 400 blocks of plas­tic explo­sives, 110 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, 600 blast­ing caps and 15 rolls of det­o­nat­ing cord found in a truck in the Spin Boldak dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. Coali­tion forces also found 3,410 pounds of hashish in a civil­ian truck in Spin Boldak. In Lagh­man province, coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of six land­mines, mul­ti­ple large mor­tar rounds, and a rock­et. Coali­tion forces also found a weapons cache in the Pan­jwa’i dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The cache con­sist­ed of 17 hand grenades, an anti-tank mine, an antiper­son­nel mine, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, six RPG boost­ers, a medi­um machine gun with two spare bar­rels and an assault rifle. 

— An insur­gent-placed IED killed three Afghan civil­ians and seri­ous­ly wound­ed a child in Zab­ul province. The wound­ed child was med­ical­ly evac­u­at­ed by coali­tion forces after the attack, which occurred in the Qalat district. 

In Oct. 10 operations: 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban mid-lev­el leader sus­pect­ed in IED attacks dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Pak­tiya province. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the Zur­mat dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the tar­get­ed com­pound peace­ful­ly, then the force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing, the force iden­ti­fied and detained the man along with two of his associates. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed Ajmal Agha Jan, a Tal­iban senior leader respon­si­ble for emplac­ing IEDs through­out Hel­mand province, dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the province. The force also cap­tured a Tal­iban mid-lev­el leader who direct­ed attacks in the Mar­jah dis­trict. He is sus­pect­ed of lead­ing as many as 20 fight­ers. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a series of com­pounds in Mar­jah dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the tar­get­ed com­pound peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared the com­pound. After ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, the force iden­ti­fied and detained the Tal­iban leader along with two of his asso­ciates. Dur­ing the search, Ajmal Agha Jan threat­ened the secu­ri­ty force with a pis­tol. The force engaged, killing him. Addi­tion­al­ly, the secu­ri­ty force found a grenade at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed Mul­lah Jamalud­din, report­ed­ly one of the pos­si­ble can­di­dates to become the new shad­ow gov­er­nor for Badghis province after the for­mer, Mul­lah Ismail, was killed recent­ly in a com­bined oper­a­tion. Jamalud­din was known for traf­fick­ing IEDs and weapons through­out Badghis province. The Afghan and coali­tion force’s delib­er­ate cam­paign to dis­rupt Tal­iban oper­a­tions in Badghis and neigh­bor­ing Faryab provinces has result­ed in six Tal­iban senior lead­ers killed, includ­ing the shad­ow gov­er­nors for Badghis and Faryab provinces, and one cap­tured, dur­ing sev­er­al oper­a­tions over the last two weeks. Intel­li­gence sources tracked Jamalud­din in the Morghab dis­trict. Three armed men threat­ened the force dur­ing the oper­a­tion. The force respond­ed, killing Jamalud­din and his two accom­plices. After the area was secure, the secu­ri­ty force searched the area and pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fied Jamaluddin. 

— Afghan and ISAF troops raid­ed a sus­pect­ed Tal­iban head­quar­ters in Helmand’s Mai­wand dis­trict. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources led the patrol to the com­pound, which housed a cell of about 300 fight­ers. Afghans used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound and then began to clear the build­ings. The patrol took fire from armed men in and around the com­pound. The force returned fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents. The force also detained sev­er­al sus­pects. Dur­ing a search of the com­pound, the force found about 30 pres­sure-plate IEDs, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, RPG launch­ers, AK-47s, med­ical equip­ment, sui­cide IED vests, and items nor­mal­ly used in com­mand and con­trol activ­i­ties. The weapons and explo­sives were destroyed in place. 

— A vehi­cle-borne IED explod­ed near an ISAF mount­ed patrol in the Man­duzai dis­trict of Khost province in east­ern Afghanistan, killing an Afghan child and wound­ing two oth­ers. The wound­ed chil­dren were evac­u­at­ed to an ISAF med­ical facility. 

— An insur­gent-placed IED killed nine Afghan civil­ians, includ­ing women and chil­dren, when the vehi­cle they were trav­el­ing in struck the device in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province. Accord­ing to ini­tial reports, among the dead are three young chil­dren, three women, and sev­er­al oth­er adults. 

— Afghan and ISAF troops came under fire by insur­gents while con­duct­ing a dis­mount­ed patrol in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. Insur­gents used small arms and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades in the attack. The force iden­ti­fied the insur­gent fir­ing posi­tion and returned fire. Dur­ing the ensu­ing fire fight, the com­bined force called in air sup­port to sup­press the ene­my fire. The result­ing close-air sup­port and com­bined force fire­fight killed more than 15 insur­gents. Ini­tial reports indi­cate that all rounds were observed strik­ing their intend­ed tar­get, caus­ing no dam­age to local build­ings and no civil­ian casualties. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents and killed two oth­ers in oper­a­tions in Ghazni and Nim­roz provinces. In Ghazni province, a com­bined force tar­get­ed a Tal­iban mid-lev­el leader involved in ambush oper­a­tions in the Jaghuri dis­trict, detain­ing one sus­pect. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the force to a remote com­pound in the Rashidan dis­trict. As the force approached the tar­get­ed com­pound, they saw two men run to a near­by out­house and bar­ri­cade them­selves inside. The force attempt­ed mul­ti­ple call-out attempts before assess­ing hos­tile intent and killing the men. The force cleared and secured the tar­get­ed com­pound and, after ques­tion­ing res­i­dents, detained one sus­pect. In Nim­roz province, a sep­a­rate com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pects while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader who plans attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. The force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents at a remote com­pound, and found mul­ti­ple grenades and a pis­tol along with a sig­nif­i­cant amount of Iran­ian cur­ren­cy at the scene. 

— Com­bined forces killed one insur­gent and wound­ed anoth­er in south­ern Afghanistan after their patrol came under fire. Insur­gents used small-arms fire to attack the force in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The force returned fire and called for close-air sup­port, which killed one and wound­ed anoth­er. Ini­tial assess­ments indi­cate the mis­sile impact­ed approx­i­mate­ly 16 yards from the intend­ed tar­get. Sev­er­al hours after the strike, a local man brought an injured child to a near­by for­ward oper­at­ing base, indi­cat­ing the child’s wounds were caused from a mor­tar strike ear­li­er in the day. The child is being treat­ed by coali­tion forces. There are also ini­tial reports that two civil­ians may have been acci­den­tal­ly killed in the strike. Although ground and close air sup­port video from the strike showed no civil­ians in the area, the com­bined force will con­tin­ue to look into the incident. 

In Oct. 9 operations: 

— ISAF con­firmed Mul­lah Hezbol­lah, the deputy Tal­iban dis­trict leader for Chak‑e War­dak of War­dak province, was killed dur­ing an Oct. 7 oper­a­tion in that province. Qari Sulay­man, a Tal­iban senior leader respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing and con­duct­ing impro­vised explo­sive device, indi­rect and direct-fire attacks against coali­tion forces oper­at­ing in Tange Val­ley, also was killed dur­ing the oper­a­tion. He was report­ed­ly plan­ning to flee to Pak­istan. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds east of the vil­lage of Paysh Kor in Chak‑e War­dak dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then the com­bined secu­ri­ty force began to clear the build­ings. Dur­ing the clear­ance, the secu­ri­ty force took fire from armed indi­vid­u­als with­in the com­pounds. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire, killing four, includ­ing Mul­lah Hezbol­lah and Qari Sulay­man. The secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered and destroyed an auto­mat­ic weapon and pis­tol, along with mul­ti­ple rifles and grenades at the scene. When the area was secure, the secu­ri­ty force con­duct­ed ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene before detain­ing one sus­pect­ed insurgent. 

— ISAF com­man­der U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus joined British For­eign Sec­re­tary William Hague in offer­ing his sin­cere con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly, friends and col­leagues of Lin­da Nor­grove, who was killed Oct. 8 by her cap­tors dur­ing an attempt to res­cue her. “Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces did every­thing in their pow­er to res­cue Lin­da,” Petraeus said. “Lin­da was a coura­geous per­son with a pas­sion to improve the lives of Afghan peo­ple, and sad­ly she lost her life in their ser­vice. Our thoughts and prayers are with her fam­i­ly dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time.” 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in overnight oper­a­tions in Kun­duz and Khost provinces, tar­get­ing Haqqani and Tal­iban lead­ers. In Khost province, Afghan and coali­tion forces con­tin­ued track­ing a Haqqani Net­work mid-lev­el leader overnight, detain­ing two sus­pect­ed insur­gents with­out inci­dent. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual coor­di­nates and con­ducts attacks against Afghan Nation­al Army and coali­tion forces. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Lewan Kheyl in Sabari dis­trict to search for the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also dis­cov­ered and destroyed mul­ti­ple weapons, a blast­ing cap, explo­sives and mil­i­tary uni­forms at the scene. In north­ern Kun­duz province, a sep­a­rate secu­ri­ty force detained three sus­pect­ed insur­gents while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban mid-lev­el leader for the Gor Tapa area. He leads attacks in Kun­duz City using for­eign fight­ers, and is asso­ci­at­ed with Tal­iban and Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan lead­ers in the area. After the Afghan-led call out, the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing of the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— Afghan and ISAF troops raid­ed a sus­pect­ed Tal­iban head­quar­ters com­pound in Mai­wand dis­trict, Hel­mand province. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources led the patrol to the sus­pect­ed Tal­iban head­quar­ters, which is the base of oper­a­tions for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for com­mand­ing mul­ti­ple insur­gent cells made up of approx­i­mate­ly 300 fight­ers. Afghans used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound and then began to clear the build­ings with­in the com­pound. While clear­ing the com­pound, the ANSF and ISAF patrol took fire from armed indi­vid­u­als inside and out­side the com­pound. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents. Dur­ing a search of the com­pound, the com­bined force found approx­i­mate­ly 30 pres­sure-plate impro­vised explo­sive devices, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, RPG launch­ers, sev­er­al AK-47s, med­ical equip­ment, sui­cide IED vests, and items nor­mal­ly used in com­mand and con­trol activ­i­ties. The weapons and explo­sives were destroyed in place. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in overnight oper­a­tions in Zab­ul and Kan­da­har provinces tar­get­ing Tal­iban lead­ers. In Zab­ul province, the com­bined secu­ri­ty force con­tin­ued their search for a Tal­iban senior leader involved in the pro­duc­tion, plan­ning and exe­cu­tion of impro­vised explo­sive device attacks along High­way 1. Intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion led the secu­ri­ty force to a series of com­pounds in Qalat dis­trict to search for the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents. A sep­a­rate secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a Tal­iban senior leader for cen­tral Uruz­gan province. His ter­ri­to­ry includes Mirabad Val­ley, Deh Raf­shan and the Baluch Riv­er Val­ley, in Kan­da­har province. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual was released from prison in July 2009 and imme­di­ate­ly re-assumed his role as a Tal­iban senior leader. The secu­ri­ty force went to a remote com­pound in Spin Boldak dis­trict, and after an Afghan-led call-out, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

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

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