Karzai, Allen Condemn Attacks in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2011 — Afghan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai and Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, com­man­der of the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force, joint­ly con­demned today’s insur­gent attacks in Her­at and Faryab, Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The attacks killed five civil­ians, includ­ing a woman, and wound­ed 24 oth­ers, offi­cials said.

Reports indi­cate the explo­sives were det­o­nat­ed at a pub­lic place in Her­at and near a mosque in Faryab.

“Again, insur­gents have mur­dered and maimed inno­cent civil­ians,” Allen said in a state­ment issued today. “It’s clear from these many cal­lous acts that the lives and liveli­hoods of Afghan cit­i­zens mean noth­ing to these ene­mies of Afghanistan. We join Pres­i­dent Karzai and [the min­istry of inte­ri­or] in con­demn­ing these heinous attacks, and we will work togeth­er to relent­less­ly pur­sue these ene­mies of peace and Afghanistan sovereignty.”

In Afghanistan news yesterday:

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed Haqqani net­work insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Sabari dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province. The force detained the men while search­ing for a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor who coor­di­nates ambush­es and emplaces road­side bombs.

— In the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tia province, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor who is respon­si­ble for the move­ment of insur­gent weapons and explo­sives in the region.

— A com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered and destroyed a large cache of bomb- and impro­vised explo­sive device-mak­ing mate­ri­als in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The cache con­sist­ed of two 105 mm shells each filled with nine pounds of explo­sives, 50 pounds of nitro­gen-based pow­der, 55 pounds of cit­ric acid mono­hy­drate pow­der, 55 pound bags of monosodi­um glu­ta­mate pow­der, six hand grenades, 30 blast­ing caps, one pres­sure plate, 100 feet of det­o­na­tion cord, one chest rack, three anten­nas and one radio. A bag of an unknown pow­der also was discovered.

In Aug. 24 Afghanistan news:

— A com­bined patrol killed one insur­gent and detained two sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Qarah Bagh dis­trict of Ghazni province. The patrol also seized and safe­ly destroyed two grenades and a quan­ti­ty of small arms and ammunition.

— A com­bined force detained two sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing an insur­gent leader in the Kab­ul dis­trict of Kab­ul province. The leader is respon­si­ble for IED and oth­er attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces.

— A com­bined patrol killed numer­ous insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Khas Uruz­gan dis­trict of Uruz­gan province. The insur­gents were killed after they engaged the patrol with rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and small-arms fire. Fol­low­ing the fire­fight, the patrol dis­cov­ered and destroyed some small arms and ammunition. 

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

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