Combined Force Captures Haqqani Network Leader

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 13, 2012 — An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader dur­ing a March 11 oper­a­tion in the Sabari dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The leader direct­ed attacks against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces in the Bak and Sabari dis­tricts, and sup­plies weapons to insur­gents, offi­cials said. 

The secu­ri­ty force detained three addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing the operation. 

In March 10 Afghanistan operations: 

— An Afghan provin­cial response team with coali­tion men­tors detained an impro­vised explo­sive device man­u­fac­tur­er in the Nerkh dis­trict of War­dak province. The man is believed respon­si­ble for a road­side bomb­ing attack against Afghan and coali­tion forces in the Shin­war dis­trict of Par­wan province. IED com­po­nents were linked to the sus­pect and led to Afghan judi­cial offi­cials issu­ing a war­rant for his arrest. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces seized weapons and nar­cotics and destroyed a pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty in the Achin dis­trict of Nan­garhar province. Dur­ing the Afghan-planned and led oper­a­tion, the secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a com­pound with nar­cot­ic-pro­cess­ing equip­ment and 110 pounds of opi­um. The drugs and pro­duc­tion mate­r­i­al were destroyed on-site, along with a weapons cache of rock­et-pro­pelled grenades the secu­ri­ty forces discovered. 

In March 9 Afghanistan operations: 

— An Afghan provin­cial response team sup­port­ed by coali­tion forces cap­tured a senior Tal­iban leader in the Bati Kot dis­trict of Nan­garhar province. The leader was respon­si­ble for dis­trib­ut­ing IEDs and direct­ing insur­gent attacks against coali­tion forces and sup­ply convoys. 

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