ISAF Condemns Fatal Attack on Afghan District Governor

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2010 — NATO’s Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­demned today’s insur­gent attack on the dis­trict gov­er­nor of Dur Baba, Nan­ga­har province.

The dis­trict gov­er­nor and two oth­ers were killed when the vehi­cle they were trav­el­ing in struck an impro­vised explo­sive device, accord­ing to ini­tial reports. 

“This is trag­ic and demon­strates that the insur­gents have no inter­est in a peace­ful coun­try,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Tor­res, ISAF Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor. “Our thoughts and con­cerns are with the fam­i­lies of the vic­tims dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time. ISAF will work with our Afghan part­ners to find those respon­si­ble and bring them to justice.” 

In oth­er news: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces today dis­cov­ered about 240 pounds of drugs in a pub­lic ware­house stor­age room in the Spin Boldak dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The force found two 40-pound crates of hashish and four 40-pound burlap bags of either hero­in or opi­um. Coali­tion mil­i­tary work­ing dog con­firmed the pres­ence of drugs. 

— Three Afghan civil­ians were wound­ed and one was killed by insur­gents today dur­ing an attack in Kunar province’s Bar Kunar dis­trict. Coali­tion forces returned fire, killing one insurgent. 

In overnight operations: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work weapons and ammu­ni­tion sup­pli­er known for coor­di­nat­ing attacks against mil­i­tary forces. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds in the Sabari dis­trict to search for the man and anoth­er leader who con­ducts indi­rect fire attacks on a near­by com­bat out­post. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the force cleared and secured the area. The force iden­ti­fied and detained the man and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates. The force also dis­cov­ered mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, rifles and mag­a­zines along with a scope and a grenade at the scene. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Two chil­dren were killed and one was injured when insur­gents fired indi­rect and small-arms in the Jani Khel dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province. A third child received super­fi­cial wounds to the heel and chest. 

— A com­bined patrol killed sev­er­al insur­gents and detained two sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Shah Wali Kot dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. Mul­ti­ple tips led the force to the site of a sus­pect­ed weapons cache. As the patrol entered the area, sev­er­al armed insur­gents attempt­ed to flee toward anoth­er ele­ment of the secu­ri­ty force. They pre­sent­ed hos­tile intent and were killed. Numer­ous rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, small-arms and ammu­ni­tion were found and destroyed on site. Two oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained when they attempt­ed to evade the secu­ri­ty force. 

— A com­bined force found 33 bags of opi­um, total­ing 825 pounds in a com­pound in the Garm Ser dis­trict of Hel­mand province. 

— A com­bined patrol killed eight insur­gents when the insur­gents attacked the patrol with small-arms fire in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. After iden­ti­fy­ing insur­gent fir­ing posi­tions, the force returned fire. When they con­tin­ued to receive fire from the insur­gent posi­tions they request­ed artillery rock­et and close-air sup­port. Two rock­ets were fired on the insur­gent posi­tions and coali­tion air­craft engaged a posi­tion with a pre­ci­sion-weapon. The force report­ed all weapons impact­ed the intend­ed tar­gets. Ini­tial oper­a­tional report­ing states there were no civil­ian casualties. 

In ear­li­er operations: 

— The ISAF con­firmed that a Haqqani net­work mem­ber known as “Mach” who was respon­si­ble for the move­ment of weapons and fight­ers in the Ziruk dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province was killed Oct. 20 dur­ing an oper­a­tion there. Mach also enabled com­mu­ni­ca­tions with­in the net­work and com­mand­ed a group of low­er-lev­el fight­ers. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound to search for the sus­pect. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly, then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing, the force detained sev­er­al sus­pects. Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, sev­er­al armed insur­gents fired at the secu­ri­ty force. Afghan and coali­tion forces returned fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents, includ­ing Mach. 

— The ISAF con­firmed a Tal­iban leader, as well as an attack plan­ner, were killed in an Oct. 8 oper­a­tion in the Kaja­ki dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The leader, Nau­roz, was known for exert­ing con­trol through intim­i­da­tion and vio­lence; he also planned and exe­cut­ed numer­ous attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. Also killed was Nauroz’s asso­ciate, Adil, who was known to lead IED and sui­cide attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. Numer­ous insur­gents were killed and var­i­ous forms of explo­sives were destroyed in place dur­ing the oper­a­tion. The tar­get­ed com­pound where the insur­gents were killed is asso­ci­at­ed with a senior Tal­iban leader linked to sui­cide and IED attacks. 

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

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter