Forces in Afghanistan Detain Taliban Attack Leader

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban attack leader along with sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Afghanistan’s Kan­da­har province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The detained mil­i­tant was based in Kan­da­har City and recent­ly had been in Hel­mand province’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict and Kandahar’s Spin Bolak dis­trict, as well as in Chaman, Pak­istan, offi­cials said.

He also was coor­di­nat­ing attacks on Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and coali­tion forces in Afghanistan’s cap­i­tal of Kab­ul, offi­cials added. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Afghan and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force troops detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Zab­ul province’s Tarnek wa Jal­dak dis­trict. Coali­tion forces also found a gas tank, two bags of hashish seeds and about a half pound of pure hashish. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Arghandab dis­trict, an Afghan police patrol found a jug of home­made explo­sives and a 155 mm round. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tor along with anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Khost province’s Jaji Maid­an district. 

The facil­i­ta­tor oper­at­ed in the province’s Sabari and Khost dis­tricts and was respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing, mov­ing and dis­trib­ut­ing Haqqani insur­gents in the area to con­duct bomb­ing attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces, offi­cials said. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces seek­ing a Tal­iban leader detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent in War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict. The want­ed Tal­iban leader is respon­si­ble for kid­nap­pings, weapons facil­i­ta­tion and attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces, offi­cials said, and report­ed­ly has been active in pur­chas­ing weapons and explo­sives for bomb­ing attacks. 

— In Ghazni province’s Ghazni dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor along with anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent. The facil­i­ta­tor was respon­si­ble for sell­ing weapons to oth­er Tal­iban insur­gents in the area, was asso­ci­at­ed with oth­er arms deal­ers and Tal­iban oper­a­tives, and report­ed­ly pur­chased ammu­ni­tion and grenades from an asso­ciate for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces, offi­cials said. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al Hezb‑e Isla­mi Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tors and numer­ous oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in Khost’s Sabari dis­trict. One oper­at­ed out of Sabari dis­trict, where he instruct­ed oth­er insur­gents in build­ing road­side bombs and trans­ferred weapons for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. The oth­ers were respon­si­ble for plant­i­ng road­side bombs. 

In Feb. 13 operations: 

— Based on intel­li­gence reports and tips from local res­i­dents, a com­bined Afghan and ISAF patrol killed a sev­er­al insur­gents and detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent in an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing a weapons facil­i­ta­tor in Helmand’s Musa Qalah dis­trict. The tar­get­ed man is direct­ly involved in the facil­i­ta­tion of sui­cide-bomber vests and oth­er weapons, includ­ing rock­ets, used to tar­get Afghan and ISAF forces, offi­cials said. The com­bined force found and destroyed three assault rifles and asso­ci­at­ed ammu­ni­tion at the scene. 

— Five insur­gents were killed and two oth­ers were wound­ed in a com­bined Afghan Nation­al Army and ISAF oper­a­tion in Helmand’s Kaja­ki dis­trict. The part­nered force found two assault rifles, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade and a hand-held radio dur­ing the operation. 

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

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