Afghan, Coalition Forces Detain Taliban Leader

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2010 — Afghan and coali­tion forces last night cap­tured an alleged bomb and weapons facil­i­ta­tor in Afghanistan’s War­dak province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed. The Tal­iban leader was tar­get­ed for kid­nap­ping and ran­som­ing local res­i­dents in the province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict. Intel­li­gence reports led secu­ri­ty forces to his loca­tion, and he and an asso­ciate were detained with­out inci­dent.

Also last night, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in south­ern Afghanistan’s Hel­mand and Ghazni provinces. Secu­ri­ty forces were tar­get­ing Tal­iban lead­er­ship in region. The Ghazni oper­a­tion also result­ed in dis­cov­ery of bomb-mak­ing materials. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— In Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict, an Afghan and coali­tion airstrike killed two armed insur­gents with ties to a local Tal­iban leader. Tips from near­by res­i­dents led secu­ri­ty forces to his loca­tion. The tar­get­ed Tal­iban leader alleged­ly was respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing and car­ry­ing out bomb­ing attacks against secu­ri­ty forces, as well as intim­i­dat­ing local res­i­dents, offi­cials said. 

— In Uruz­gan province’s Shahid‑e Hasas dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion troops killed a dis­trict-lev­el Tal­iban leader who led 175 fight­ers and has coor­di­nat­ed and par­tic­i­pat­ed in numer­ous attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. He also direct­ed and engaged in intim­i­da­tion activ­i­ties, order­ing mur­ders and beat­ings of local res­i­dents who sup­port­ed Afghanistan’s new gov­ern­ment, offi­cials said. He was killed after he engaged the secu­ri­ty forces with small-arms fire. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed an armed insur­gent in Kan­da­har province’s Shah Wali Kot dis­trict. Secu­ri­ty forces were search­ing an area asso­ci­at­ed with insur­gent activ­i­ty when the insur­gent bran­dished a weapon at the troops. He was killed imme­di­ate­ly. Troops also found a weapons cache of machine guns and assault rifles with ammunition. 

— Also in Uruz­gan province, secu­ri­ty forces detained three peo­ple, one of whom report­ed­ly is known for build­ing and plant­i­ng road­side bombs. The oper­a­tion took place in the Chorah district. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces found a num­ber of weapons caches in sep­a­rate oper­a­tions through­out south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan. In Kan­da­har province, troops dis­cov­ered more than 6,500 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, more than 60 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades with two launch­ers, 40 var­i­ous rock­ets and mor­tars and 75 pounds of shrap­nel and oth­er bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. In Khost province, troops found more than 1,700 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, 14 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and five assault rifles. An oper­a­tion in Hel­mand province net­ted eight .50-cal­iber sniper rifles with 300 round of ammu­ni­tion, offi­cials said. 

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

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