Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill, Detain Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces killed numer­ous insur­gents and detained sev­er­al oth­ers in recent oper­a­tions through­out Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Coali­tion troops from an air weapons and sur­veil­lance team today saw sev­er­al armed men maneu­ver to a known insur­gent loca­tion in Kunar province’s Watah­pur dis­trict. The team deter­mined that the men posed an immi­nent threat to secu­ri­ty forces and the com­mu­ni­ty. They fol­lowed the assess­ment with a pre­ci­sion airstrike, killing sev­er­al insur­gents. In oth­er oper­a­tions today:

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed two insur­gents and wound­ed sev­er­al oth­ers in Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict who were plan­ning an attack on a near­by coali­tion out­post. An air weapons team spot­ted the insur­gents prepar­ing fight­ing posi­tions near the out­post. The team thwart­ed the would-be attack with a pre­ci­sion airstrike. 

— A coali­tion air weapons team killed two insur­gents in Ghazni province’s Muqer dis­trict after a coali­tion patrol came under attack. The patrolling troops request­ed air sup­port after a tak­ing ene­my gun­fire and rock­et-pro­pelled grenade fire. Air sup­port killed two ene­my fight­ers and caused the rest to flee. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents believed to have ties to weapons and drug traf­fick­ing. These oper­a­tions result­ed in seizure of 220 pounds alu­minum pow­der, 132 pounds of the banned ammo­ni­um nitrate fer­til­iz­er used to make road­side bombs, 56 mor­tars and rock­ets, 11 assault rifles, eight rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, six hand grenades, six com­plet­ed bombs, more than a thou­sand rounds of small arms ammu­ni­tion and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Secu­ri­ty forces also found 176 pounds of hashish, 44 pounds of opi­um and 26 pounds of heroin. 

— Offi­cials from NATO’s Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­firmed the iden­ti­ty of a Tal­iban leader killed Jan. 3 in Kun­duz province. Afghan and coali­tion forces killed Mul­lah Janat Gul in the province’s Imam Sahib dis­trict. He was respon­si­ble for weapons traf­fick­ing, kid­nap­pings and Tal­iban recruit­ing through­out the province. In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Based on tips for local res­i­dents, Afghan and coali­tion forces in Hel­mand province’s Garm Ser dis­trict detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in an oper­a­tion that tar­get­ed a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for traf­fick­ing weapons and for­eign fight­ers to Afghanistan from Pakistan. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jawi dis­trict while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for bomb­ing attacks and weapons traf­fick­ing. Tips from local res­i­dents led secu­ri­ty forces to his sus­pect­ed loca­tion, where the sus­pects were detained with­out inci­dent. After search­ing the area, troops dis­cov­ered a Tal­iban bunker com­plex. They request­ed an air weapons team, which destroyed the bunker with a pre­ci­sion airstrike. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained four insur­gents in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict. Troops were search­ing for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader respon­si­ble for lead­ing numer­ous attacks on secu­ri­ty forces in the province’s Sabari and Bak districts. 

— Act­ing on tips from local res­i­dents, Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured a Tal­iban leader in Nan­garhar province’s Sherzad dis­trict. The Tal­iban leader is respon­si­ble for killing near­by vil­lages that coop­er­at­ed with local secu­ri­ty forces against the Taliban. 

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

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