Forces in Afghanistan Target Taliban, Haqqani Leaders

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2011 — Coali­tion and Afghan forces con­tin­ued to tar­get Tal­iban and Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work oper­a­tives in oper­a­tions con­duct­ed yes­ter­day around Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

— Part­nered Afghan and coali­tion forces act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion in Nan­garhar province’s Behsud dis­trict detained a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who coor­di­nat­ed the trav­el of for­eign fight­ers into Kunar province from Pak­istan. He was respon­si­ble for con­duct­ing attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and coali­tion forces, and he report­ed­ly facil­i­tat­ed road­side bomb place­ment in the province. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces look­ing for a Haqqani net­work leader in Khost province’s Bak dis­trict detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed com­bat­ants and killed two armed com­bat­ants. In addi­tion to oper­at­ing in Bak and Ter­ayzai dis­tricts, the Haqqani leader is respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing and con­duct­ing attacks against coali­tion forces, offi­cials said, he pro­vides reports to senior Haqqani lead­ers on his network’s activ­i­ties as well as on Afghan and coali­tion forces. Secu­ri­ty forces recov­ered a machine gun with 800 rounds, mul­ti­ple rifles, a com­plete mor­tar sys­tem with a round, a pis­tol and ammunition 

— In Hel­mand province’s Garm Ser dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who oper­ates in Durzay vil­lage detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor has direct con­tact with Tal­iban lead­ers in the area, offi­cials said, and pro­vides reports on Tal­iban attacks and infor­ma­tion on coali­tion forces’ move­ments to Tal­iban lead­ers in Pak­istan. He also is involved with opi­um pro­cess­ing and traf­fick­ing to finance insur­gent oper­a­tions. Offi­cials said he report­ed­ly plant­ed devices in the vil­lage to pro­tect him­self from Afghan and coali­tion mis­sions tar­get­ing him. 

In oth­er news, Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials con­firmed a Tal­iban leader was detained dur­ing an Afghan and coali­tion oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict Jan. 5. The Tal­iban leader is respon­si­ble for road­side-bomb attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces and insur­gent weapons facil­i­ta­tion in the province’s Pan­jwai, Dand and Zharay dis­tricts, offi­cials said. 

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

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