Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill, Detain Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion killed at least 15 insur­gents and detained numer­ous oth­ers today in oper­a­tions through­out south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Afghan and coali­tion troops observed the move­ment of sev­er­al armed insur­gents in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict. Troops engaged the insur­gents with small-arms fire, wound­ing one, and con­tin­ued their patrol. The troops lat­er came into ene­my con­tact again and were attacked. Avi­a­tion assets killed sev­er­al insur­gents with a pre­ci­sion airstrike, while Afghan and coali­tion ground forces detained sev­er­al others. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions today: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing a gun bat­tle In Hel­mand province’s Now Zad district. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents in Kunar province’s Bar Kunar dis­trict. Forces spot­ted the insur­gents oper­at­ing in a known insur­gent fight­ing position. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces in Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict killed three insur­gents with small-arms fire after observ­ing them plant road­side bombs near a coali­tion outpost. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces found sev­er­al weapons caches through­out south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan. These oper­a­tions result­ed in the seizure of 11 rock­et-pro­pelled grenade boost­ers, three assault rifles, numer­ous rock­ets, sev­er­al mor­tar rounds and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing materials. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed at least 10 armed insur­gents in an oper­a­tion in Kun­duz province’s Archi dis­trict. The troops took fire imme­di­ate­ly when they arrived at a Tal­iban leader’s alleged loca­tion. Troops returned fire and began search­ing the com­pound. Inside the com­pound troops were attacked again, but killed the shoot­er imme­di­ate­ly. Two sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained for fur­ther questioning. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents, includ­ing a senior Tal­iban leader in Farah province’s Gulis­tan dis­trict. The senior Tal­iban was the top Tal­iban for the province’s Bak­wah dis­trict who planned and facil­i­tat­ed all aspects of insur­gent oper­a­tions in the region. The indi­vid­u­als were detained with­out incident. 

— In Khost province, Afghan and coali­tion troops detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing a Haqqani net­work leader. The Haqqani mem­ber is report­ed­ly respon­si­ble for traf­fick­ing explo­sive devices and oth­er weapons to insur­gents through­out the province. The sus­pects were detained with­out inci­dent. Troops also con­fis­cat­ed a machine gun with 200 rounds of ammu­ni­tion, sev­er­al assault rifles, a pis­tol and oth­er small-arms ammunition. 

— Afghan and coali­tion troops detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kun­duz province. Troops were search­ing for a Tal­iban bomb facil­i­ta­tor with ties to the Tal­iban shad­ow gov­er­nor in the province. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces in Kan­da­har province’s Daman dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents con­nect­ed to local Tal­iban lead­ers. The sus­pects were detained with­out incident. 

— In Log­ar province, secu­ri­ty forces detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent in an oper­a­tion to track down Haqqani net­work insur­gents. Tips from local res­i­dents led troops to the suspect’s location. 

In oper­a­tions Jan. 9: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed numer­ous insur­gents in sep­a­rate oper­a­tions in Hel­mand province. Sev­er­al insur­gents also were wound­ed after attack­ing a secu­ri­ty force patrol in the province’s San­gin district. 

— Based on tips pro­vid­ed by local res­i­dents, secu­ri­ty forces killed two insur­gents and dis­cov­ered 3 tons of hashish in south­ern Hel­mand province. The patrol was search­ing a house when they were attacked. A coali­tion air-weapons team fired on the ene­my posi­tion, killing both insur­gents. Ground forces also found and destroyed an opi­um-pro­cess­ing machine. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained three sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Log­ar province’s Charkh dis­trict. Troops were search­ing for a Tal­iban leader respon­si­ble for a recent attack that took the lives of three Amer­i­cans, two Amer­i­can sol­diers, two Afghan sol­diers and an Afghan civil­ian. The sus­pects were detained with­out incident. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent in Nan­garhar province’s Pachir wa Agam dis­trict. Troops were search­ing for a Tal­iban for­eign fight­er and sui­cide bomber traf­fick­er. The sus­pect was detained with­out incident. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces in Zab­ul province’s Shah Joy dis­trict cap­tured a sus­pect­ed insur­gent with con­nec­tions to a local Tal­iban leader. The Tal­iban leader pro­duces weapons and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als for ene­my fight­ers through­out the province. The sus­pect was detained with­out incident. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces in Hel­mand province’s Mar­jeh and Garm Ser dis­tricts found sev­er­al weapons caches. The stock­piles includ­ed more than 2,500 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, 60 pounds of explo­sives, 49 .50-cal­iber machine gun rounds and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Troops also found 1,000 pounds of marijuana. 

In oper­a­tions Jan. 8: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents in Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict. The insur­gents were plant­i­ng road­side bombs, when secu­ri­ty forces engaged the militants. 

— In Kun­duz province’s Kun­duz City, secu­ri­ty forces detained five sus­pect­ed insur­gents respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing oth­er extrem­ists with explo­sive devices and vehi­cle bombs. Troops were also tar­get­ing an insur­gent leader who alleged­ly has ties with the province’s Tal­iban shad­ow gov­ern­ment. The sus­pects were detained with­out incident. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured five sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing a Tal­iban leader, in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwa’i dis­trict. The Tal­iban leader is respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing insur­gents with weapons and plan­ning attacks against secu­ri­ty forces and civil­ians in the dis­trict. The sus­pects were detained with­out incident. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces found sev­er­al weapons caches through­out south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan. These oper­a­tions result­ed in the seizure of 400 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, 21 hand grenades, nine rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, three assault rifles, one pis­tol and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Troops also found 2,000 pounds of marijuana. 

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

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