Afghanistan — Combined Force Captures Haqqani Leader

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader and killed two Haqqani insur­gents in the Nadir Shah Kot dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The leader coor­di­nat­ed attacks and was respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing insur­gents with ammu­ni­tion, small arms and rock­ets, offi­cials said.

Intel­li­gence sources and tips from civil­ians led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound, where they were engaged by two armed insur­gents, who they killed. After inter­view­ing res­i­dents, the force iden­ti­fied and detained the Haqqani leader. 

In oth­er oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Com­bined forces act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Hezb‑E Isla­mi Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion leader in Bagh­lan province’s Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict. The leader is the chief logis­tics offi­cer for oper­a­tions and the chief polit­i­cal offi­cer in Bagh­lan, and he leads a group of 25 fight­ers. Dur­ing the search, the troops found sev­er­al assault rifles, a shot­gun, a pis­tol, a chest rack and ammu­ni­tion magazines. 

— Mul­ti­ple insur­gents engaged an Afghan and coali­tion patrol in Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict, Kan­da­har province. The com­bined force repelled the attack and detained numer­ous per­sons of inter­est and found more than 3 tons of marijuana. 

— A coali­tion unit in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict found 600 7.62 mm rounds, three loaded assault-rifle mag­a­zines, an assault rifle, a direc­tion­al frag­men­ta­tion charge, an ammu­ni­tion con­tain­er, a pair of binoc­u­lars, a mor­tar sight, and about 50,000 Pak­istani rupees equiv­a­lent to about 500 U.S. dollars. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces found 1,540 pounds of home­made explo­sives, along with sev­er­al blocks of TNT

— A com­bined force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict. The leader plans and par­tic­i­pates in bomb and ambush attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— In Ghazni province, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates in the province’s Ghazni dis­trict. The leader direct­ed sup­ply move­ments and road­side-bomb attacks on coali­tion forces. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion in Khost province’s Nadar Shah Kot dis­trict detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for pro­vid­ing safe havens for Haqqani leaders. 

— In Nan­garhar province’s Sherzad dis­trict, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates. The leader was a sui­cide-vest facilitator. 

— In Badghis province’s Murghab dis­trict a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing a clear­ing oper­a­tion to dis­rupt an insur­gent safe haven. 

In April 23 operations: 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al of his asso­ciates in an intel­li­gence-based oper­a­tion in Kun­duz province’s Kun­duz dis­trict. The leader pro­vid­ed weapons and secu­ri­ty for insur­gents and was respon­si­ble for attacks on mul­ti­ple tar­gets, includ­ing polling places dur­ing September’s elec­tion. The force found blast­ing caps on two of the sus­pects and also found assault rifles, a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade with com­po­nents, chest racks and mul­ti­ple loaded mag­a­zines at the scene. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban financier and numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an intel­li­gence-dri­ven oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province’s Daman dis­trict. The financier was respon­si­ble for trans­port­ing weapons and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, as well as fund­ing Tal­iban cells. The com­bined force found an assault rifle and sev­er­al pistols. 

— A coali­tion force in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict found a road­side bomb and saw sev­er­al insur­gents plant­i­ng more. After sev­er­al hours of obser­va­tion, the insur­gent com­pound was destroyed with high-explo­sive rounds and an airstrike. 

— In Log­ar province’s Charkh dis­trict, a com­bined force act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who assists with the coor­di­na­tion, exe­cu­tion and train­ing of attack tech­niques tar­get­ing Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kun­duz province’s Kun­duz dis­trict. Among those detained was a man sus­pect­ed of lead­ing a cell of 20 Tal­iban fight­ers and facil­i­tat­ing the ship­ment of home­made bombs through­out Kun­duz. Anoth­er detainee is sus­pect­ed of pro­vid­ing and build­ing bombs for local Tal­iban groups. 

— A com­bined patrol in Hel­mand province’s Mar­ja dis­trict found six rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, a 15 mm shell cas­ing, 700 machine-gun rounds, five 82 mm mor­tar charges, two radios, an elec­tri­cal out­let tester and two han­dles used to change bar­rels on a machine gun. 

In April 22 operations: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents, detained sev­er­al oth­ers and secured ene­my weapons in Uruz­gan province’s Shahid‑E Hasas dis­trict. The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was a com­pound asso­ci­at­ed with insur­gents oper­at­ing in the area. Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed when they engaged the patrol with small-arms fire, heavy machine guns and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. The force recov­ered an assault rifle with ammu­ni­tion, nine grenades and a home­made bomb device. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces found two pop­py fields. Afghan forces plowed both fields and burned the plants. The illic­it pop­py and drug trade helps to finance the insurgency. 

— In Nim­roz province’s Knash Rod dis­trict, coali­tion forces found and destroyed 3,274 pounds of opi­um gum and 272 pounds of hero­in. The drugs were destroyed by secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A coali­tion forces patrol in Pak­tia province’s Sayyid Karam dis­trict found about 2,000 machine-gun rounds, a machine gun, three rock­et-pro­pelled grenade fus­es and a mor­tar fuse, a rifle and var­i­ous arti­cles of tac­ti­cal clothing. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed an insur­gent who advanced on them with a pis­tol and detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for a road­side-bomb facil­i­ta­tor in Takhar province’s Ishkamish dis­trict. The facil­i­ta­tor, an explo­sives expert, sup­ports both Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan and Tal­iban senior leaders. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in Hel­mand province’s Kaja­ki dis­trict. The facil­i­ta­tor coor­di­nates the move­ment of nar­cotics to Nim­roz province and receives weapons ship­ments. He also directs road­side-bomb place­ment and ensures Tal­iban lead­ers have received bomb com­po­nents. The force also dis­cov­ered 400,000 in Pak­istan rupees, the cur­ren­cy typ­i­cal­ly used for drug and weapons trans­fers, offi­cials said. The sum is the equiv­a­lent of more than 4,700 U.S. dollars. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Zhari dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion detained a sus­pect while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader involved with numer­ous attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— Coali­tion forces in Ghaqzni province’s Andar dis­trict used close-air sup­port to kill two insur­gents who were observed dig­ging a hole near a road and drop­ping an object into it while oth­ers set up mul­ti­ple ambush posi­tions and an obser­va­tion post with radios and weapons. A ground force recov­ered two assault rifles, a machine gun, a motor­cy­cle and a 40-pound pres­sure-plate bomb from the site. 

— In War­dak province’s Sayed Abad dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces killed an insur­gent who tried to fire on them and detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader who coor­di­nates oper­a­tions in the dis­trict and main­tains close asso­ci­a­tions with oth­er Tal­iban lead­ers in the area. The force found and destroyed grenades, a bomb ini­tia­tor and chest racks along with the dead insurgent’s assault rifle. 

— In Pak­tia province’s Shwak dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces act­ing on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion cap­tured a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor who plans attacks against coali­tion forces and trans­ports and sup­plies bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als for oth­er Haqqani insurgents. 

— Dur­ing an intel­li­gence-based clear­ing oper­a­tion in Log­ar province’s Bara­ki Barak dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces detained two men with sus­pect­ed ties to the Tal­iban insur­gency after talk­ing with local res­i­dents about insur­gent activ­i­ty in the area. 

— In Nim­roz province’s Chakhansur dis­trict, a coali­tion patrol found and destroyed 4,180 pounds of opi­um gum, 264 pounds of hero­in and 12 bags of fresh opium. 

— Coali­tion and Afghan forces in Kan­da­har province’s Zharey dis­trict found and destroyed 1,500 pounds of hashish. 

In April 21 operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force vehi­cle inter­dic­tion oper­a­tion secured a large quan­ti­ty of nar­cotics in Kan­da­har province’s Spin Boldak dis­trict, destroy­ing about 4,190 pounds of opi­um gum, 264 pounds of hero­in and 12 bags of fresh opium. 

— Also in Kan­da­har, a com­bined force con­duct­ing a vehi­cle inter­dic­tion oper­a­tion in the Mai­wand dis­trict found and destroyed about 15 tons of bomb-mak­ing chemicals. 

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

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