von KABUL, April 9, 2010 — Afghan and international forces killed several insurgents during a battle in Afghanistan’s Helmand province and confiscated drugs and weapons caches in operations there in recent days, military officials reported.
An international patrol found 2,500 pounds of marijuana seeds in the Reg‑e Khan Neshin district of Helmand today. Officials said the marijuana seeds would be destroyed. A combined patrol in Helmand’s Nad‑e Ali district found a 51 mm rocket there yesterday and a cache consisting of a 107 mm rocket, five 82 mm mortar rounds, five rocket-propelled grenades, two recoilless rifle rounds, five anti-personnel rounds, a 12.7 mm machine gun, 25 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition and an Afghan forces uniform the day before. All of the weapons were destroyed.
On April 7, a combined unit captured two insurgents near Kajaki Sofla in Helmand province. The operation was conducted to capture a senior Taliban commander suspected of procuring materials used in roadside bombs. The combined force received small-arms fire from insurgents, and killed several during the fighting. The force seized weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, at the site. No women or children were involved, and no civilians were injured in the operation, officials said. In other operations in Afghanistan:
— An international patrol in the Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province yesterday found a 107 mm rocket and three mortar rounds in an aqueduct. The cache was destroyed.
— In the Bala Boluk district of Farah province April 7, international forces received a report from the Afghan army about a possible roadside-bomb manufacturing site. When a patrol investigated, they found two warheads about 200 mm in size, and two small rockets. The cache will be destroyed.
(From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command news release.)
Source:
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)