Forces Detain Haqqani Leader in Eastern Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained a Haqqani net­work leader dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in east­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The Afghan-led force locat­ed the leader in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province. He is believed respon­si­ble for a road­side bomb attack that killed three Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force ser­vice mem­bers yes­ter­day. Sev­er­al of the man’s asso­ciates also were detained at the com­pound in the dis­trict. The force detained the men, and safe­ly destroyed sev­er­al road­side bomb com­po­nents, grenades and a chest rack in their possession. 

The Haqqani net­work, which oper­ates pri­mar­i­ly in Khost, Pak­tiya and Pak­ti­ka provinces, has been involved in sev­er­al high-pro­file attacks in the cap­i­tal city of Kab­ul. Com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces have cap­tured more than 80 Haqqani lead­ers this year. 

In oth­er ISAF news from Afghanistan yesterday: 

— A com­bined force killed one insur­gent and detained sev­er­al oth­ers dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the north­ern province of Sar‑e Pul. With tips from res­i­dents, the Afghan-led force went to an area where a group of known insur­gents were con­duct­ing Tal­iban activ­i­ties. The force locat­ed one of the insur­gents and called on him to sur­ren­der peace­ful­ly. The insur­gent, armed with an AK-47 rifle, did not com­ply, and made a series of aggres­sive move­ments before being engaged and killed by the force. The force detained the remain­ing insur­gents with­out incident. 

— In Kun­duz, an Afghan-led force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty search in the Archi district. 

— A com­bined force oper­at­ing in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor known for smug­gling weapons from Kan­da­har province and Pak­istan to insur­gents through­out Helmand. 

— In Helmand’s Pan­jwa’i dis­trict, an Afghan-led force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for road­side bomb and direct-fire attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Qalat dis­trict, an Afghan-led force detained sev­er­al peo­ple with sus­pect­ed ties to the Tal­iban while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for road­side bombs in the area. 

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents and dis­cov­ered 50 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader in the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province. The leader directs Tal­iban fight­ers in con­duct­ing attacks along High­way 1. 

— In Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict, an Afghan-led secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani net­work leader who com­mands an insur­gent cell there. The force detained two addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor involved in large-scale move­ments of sup­plies for insur­gents in the area. 

— In War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict, an Afghan-led force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader who directs an insur­gent cell to car­ry out bomb­ing attacks in the dis­trict and is respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment officials. 

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

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter