Combined Forces Kill, Detain Multiple Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces yes­ter­day killed and detained mul­ti­ple insur­gents dur­ing sep­a­rate oper­a­tions tar­get­ing a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work attack cell in east­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The oper­a­tions tar­get­ed sev­er­al facil­i­ta­tors respon­si­ble for plan­ning an attack on the Afghan cap­i­tal of Kab­ul under direc­tion from Haqqani lead­ers based in Pak­istan. Tips from local Afghans indi­cat­ed the insur­gents’ loca­tions and their plans to launch the attack dur­ing the next few weeks, offi­cials said. 

In the Nerkh dis­trict of War­dak province, a com­bined force search­ing for a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor was attacked by ene­my rock­et-pro­pelled grenade fire. The force returned fire, killing sev­er­al insurgents. 

In a relat­ed oper­a­tion, an Afghan-led secu­ri­ty force searched for anoth­er facil­i­ta­tor at a com­pound in the Andar dis­trict of Ghazni province. The force was attacked by a group of insur­gents bar­ri­cad­ed in a build­ing. The force direct­ed the insur­gents to sur­ren­der, how­ev­er the insur­gents con­tin­ued to fire. The force then called in airstrikes, which killed sev­er­al insur­gents and caused oth­ers to sur­ren­der. Mem­bers of the secu­ri­ty force then met with local lead­ers, who said the build­ing the insur­gents had tak­en over was the vil­lage mosque. In anoth­er oper­a­tion, sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als with sus­pect­ed ties to the Haqqani facil­i­ta­tors were detained in the Sabari dis­trict of Khost province. 

No civil­ians were harmed dur­ing the oper­a­tions, offi­cials said. 

Coali­tion offi­cials have arranged a meet­ing with lead­ers in Ghazni to rebuild the mosque, which was destroyed dur­ing the fight­ing. Insur­gents have been using mosques as fight­ing posi­tions or as ammu­ni­tion stor­age areas. On July 20, A group of Haqqani insur­gents used a posi­tion inside a mosque to attack Afghan and coali­tion forces in the Bermal dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province. Insur­gents also recent­ly used a mosque in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province to store explosives. 

Since the begin­ning of the year, com­bined forces have cap­tured or killed more than 100 Haqqani insur­gents in Khost, Ghazni, and War­dak provinces, more than 50 of them insur­gent lead­ers or facilitators. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— A com­bined force detained a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and two of his asso­ciates dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The facil­i­ta­tor was respon­si­ble for acquir­ing and mov­ing weapons, and financ­ing Tal­iban oper­a­tions in the district. 

— A com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in the Nad‑e Ali dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The leader coor­di­nates the move­ment of weapons and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als in the region. 

— A com­bined force killed two insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Khugyani dis­trict of Nan­garhar province. 

— Com­bined forces detained four sus­pects as the result of four oper­a­tions con­duct­ed in Region­al Com­mand East. 

— Bagram Air­field received one round of indi­rect fire from an unknown num­ber of insur­gents. No injuries and no dam­ages were report­ed. The inci­dent is under investigation. 

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