ISAF Condemns Killing of Kandahar’s Mayor

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2011 — The Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force joined Afghanistan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai in con­demn­ing today’s killing of Kan­da­har City May­or Ghu­lam Haidar Hame­di, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Ini­tial reports indi­cate Hame­di was killed by a sui­cide bomber in Kan­da­har, the largest city in south­ern Afghanistan. One oth­er per­son was report­ed to have died in the blast. 

“May­or Hame­di was a strong leader and voice for a ter­ror-free and pro­gres­sive Afghanistan, and we extend our sym­pa­thies to his fam­i­ly and friends at this sor­row­ful time,” said Navy Rear Adm. Vic Beck, the ISAF’s direc­tor of pub­lic affairs. 

“We will work with our Afghan part­ners to bring to jus­tice those respon­si­ble for this despi­ca­ble killing,” Beck added. 

In Afghanistan news yesterday: 

– An Afghan-led force killed two insur­gents and con­fis­cat­ed ene­my weapons dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Qush Tepa dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Jowz­jan province. While the force pur­sued the insur­gents, one of them attempt­ed to engage the force with his AK-47 rifle. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire, killing the indi­vid­ual. A sec­ond insur­gent was killed after he dis­played hos­tile intent toward the force. The secu­ri­ty force con­fis­cat­ed a machine gun, an AK-47 rifle, grenades, and a chest rack. 

– An Afghan-led secu­ri­ty force killed one insur­gent and detained one sus­pect while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader in the Qal’ah-ye Zal dis­trict of Kun­duz province. The leader is respon­si­ble for plan­ning, coor­di­nat­ing and con­duct­ing attacks through­out the Imam Sahib dis­trict. The pri­ma­ry tar­gets of his attacks are Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and Afghan secu­ri­ty forces. Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, the secu­ri­ty force encoun­tered one insur­gent, armed with a pis­tol. The force fired at the man, killing him. 

– In the Shah Joy dis­trict of Zab­ul province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates. The leader was involved in con­duct­ing road­side bomb attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. He also moves road­side bomb mate­r­i­al along High­way 1. 

– An Afghan-led force cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and two of his asso­ciates dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The detained facil­i­ta­tor was respon­si­ble for con­struct­ing and emplac­ing road­side bombs. 

– In the Gho­rak dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, an Afghan-led force detained two sus­pects dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion. The oper­a­tion tar­get­ed an insur­gent respon­si­ble for pro­vid­ing a safe haven for Tal­iban lead­er­ship through­out the Gho­rak and San­gin districts. 

– A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for two Hezb‑e Isla­mi Gul­bud­din lead­ers in the Nerkh dis­trict of War­dak province. The lead­ers direct ene­my fight­ers in attacks against Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces. 

– In the Ab Band dis­trict of Ghazni province, an Afghan-led force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion tar­get­ing an Islam­ic Move­ment Uzbek­istan facil­i­ta­tor. The facil­i­ta­tor col­lab­o­rates with Tal­iban mem­bers and senior lead­ers of the IMU. 

– A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Giro dis­trict of Ghazni province. The secu­ri­ty force seized 220 12.7mm rounds of ammu­ni­tion and impro­vised explo­sive device components. 

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