Security Force, Air Assault Team Kill Insurgents

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed numer­ous insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Azrah dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Log­ar province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The insur­gents, armed with a machine gun and assault rifles, opened fire on the force, but with assis­tance from an air weapons team, the com­bined force killed the insurgents. 

The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for direct­ing road­side-bomb attacks and com­mand­ing sub­or­di­nate lead­ers and fight­ers in the province’s His­arak district. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions in Afghanistan yesterday: 

— In Balkh province’s Shol­gar­ah dis­trict, a com­bined force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban-appoint­ed gov­ern­ing offi­cial for oper­a­tions in the province. He also orga­nizes fund­ing and del­e­gates author­i­ty to lead­ers in Afghanistan, tak­ing orders from the Quet­ta Shu­ra in Pakistan. 

— In Bagh­lan province’s Pul‑e Khum­ri dis­trict, an Afghan-led com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while tar­get­ing an Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion orga­niz­er who plans attacks and move­ments in Takhar province. 

— A com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader who plans and com­mands oper­a­tions against Afghan and coali­tion forces and sup­plies weapons to fight­ers to var­i­ous Tal­iban attack cells. 

— A com­bined force detained sev­er­al men with sus­pect­ed ties to the Tal­iban in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict. The force also destroyed road­side-bomb mate­ri­als. The force was tar­get­ing a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for con­duct­ing road­side-bomb attacks and dis­trib­ut­ing bomb mate­ri­als in east­ern Panjwai. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Sha­joy dis­trict, an Afghan-led force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban orga­niz­er who dis­trib­utes mon­ey and infor­ma­tion among Tal­iban lead­ers in the Qalat and Tarnek wa Jal­dak districts. 

— In War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict, a com­bined force killed numer­ous insur­gents and detained sev­er­al oth­ers with ties to the Tal­iban. The force tried to clear a build­ing and peace­ful­ly appre­hend the insur­gents. They did not com­ply after sev­er­al secu­ri­ty force requests, and repeat­ed­ly dis­played hos­tile intent. The force fired in defense, killing sev­er­al insur­gents armed with grenades and assault rifles. 

— In Pak­tia province’s Zur­mat dis­trict, a com­bined force detained a Tal­iban leader and two sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The leader is believed to have com­mand­ed a group of insur­gents respon­si­ble for device July 5 bomb­ing attack that killed three coali­tion ser­vice members. 

— A com­bined force detained numer­ous peo­ple with sus­pect­ed ties to the Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work in Khost province’s Musa Khel dis­trict. The force was search­ing for a Haqqani orga­niz­er respon­si­ble for high-pro­file attacks in the area. 

— A com­bined force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban orga­niz­er who pro­vides a safe haven for senior Tal­iban lead­ers in Pak­ti­ka province’s Mata Khan district. 

— A com­bined patrol seized a nar­cotics and weapons cache in Daykun­di province’s Kajran dis­trict that includ­ed 2,037 pounds of opi­um, 4 pounds of hero­in, 110 pounds of mar­i­jua­na seeds, 44 pounds of mar­i­jua­na, four rifles, two pis­tols and 33 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a banned fer­til­iz­er used in home­made bombs. 

— A secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents and destroyed an unsta­ble explo­sive ord­nance facil­i­ty in Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict. The build­ing hous­ing the explo­sives posed an immi­nent threat to res­i­dents in the area. The force destroyed the build­ing based on infor­ma­tion from residents. 

— A com­bined force in Uruz­gan province’s Deh Rawud dis­trict seized two assault rifles, two shot­guns, a pis­tol, 100 7.62 mm rounds, 34 shot­gun rounds, 20 mor­tar charges, 51 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a pres­sure plate, a grenade and var­i­ous bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Sev­er­al insur­gents were detained. 

— Sep­a­rate com­bined oper­a­tions in Kan­da­har province’s Mai­wand dis­trict yield­ed two drug caches total­ing 220 pounds of mar­i­jua­na and 110 pounds of hashish. 

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

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