Afghanistan — Combined Forces Make Gains in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2010 — Afghan and inter­na­tion­al forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents and cap­tured at least one oth­er, accord­ing to ini­tial reports of a fire­fight in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province this morn­ing, mil­i­tary offi­cials said.

The forces were mov­ing through the Qarah Bagh dis­trict in search of a senior Tal­iban com­man­der and were approach­ing a com­pound when mul­ti­ple insur­gents engaged the force with machine guns, small arms, grenades, and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. The com­bined force returned fire, killing sev­er­al insurgents. 

As the com­bined force secured the com­pound, they con­tin­ued to receive small-arms fire, grenades and heavy machine-gun fire from insur­gents through­out the village. 

A search of the tar­get area revealed a vehi­cle-mount­ed 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, heavy-machine-gun ammu­ni­tion, mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic rifles, grenades, RPGs, RPG launch­ers, and com­mu­ni­ca­tions equipment. 

In oth­er recent oper­a­tions in Afghanistan: 

— In Helmand’s Garm Ser dis­trict this morn­ing, a com­bined patrol found a Russ­ian-made 122 mm pro­jec­tile, three incom­plete bombs, five pres­sure-plate trig­ger­ing devices and oth­er bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. — In Kan­da­har province this morn­ing, an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force patrol found a cache con­tain­ing five blocks of plas­tic explo­sive, an RPG and three RPG pro­pel­lant charges. 

— In Ghazni province last night, a com­bined force searched a small com­pound in the Gelan dis­trict and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther questioning. 

— In Kandahar’s Khakrez dis­trict last night, a com­bined patrol came under small-arms fire. They returned fire, wound­ing an insur­gent. Dur­ing a search, the force cap­tured a sus­pect­ed Tal­iban com­man­der respon­si­ble for lead­ing armed fight­ers in attacks against coali­tion forces, and the move­ment of weapons and sup­plies. Sev­er­al oth­er insur­gents were also detained, and the force found auto­mat­ic rifles and a shotgun. 

— In Khost province yes­ter­day, a com­bined force was en route to search a com­pound in the Sabari dis­trict when sus­pect­ed insur­gents depart­ed in two direc­tions and one of the insur­gents engaged the force. The secu­ri­ty force returned fire and killed a sus­pect­ed Haqqani ter­ror­ist group weapons traf­fick­er. The secu­ri­ty force found a machine gun, mag­a­zines and grenades at the site and detained anoth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gent for fur­ther questioning. 

— A com­bined force tar­get­ed two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in a vehi­cle in a rur­al area of Kan­da­har province’s Daman dis­trict yes­ter­day. The two demon­strat­ed hos­tile intent and were shot and killed. A search of the mil­i­tants found 10 blast­ing caps and a prob­a­ble home­made bomb. 

— In Hel­mand province’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict yes­ter­day, a com­bined force found two RPG boost­ers, an 82 mm mor­tar, nine pres­sure plate devices, eight blast­ing caps, 100 feet of det­o­na­tion cord, 61 pounds of explo­sive mate­r­i­al, bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, 200 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion and a dis­as­sem­bled anti-air­craft gun. 

— Anoth­er patrol in the same dis­trict yes­ter­day found a cache con­tain­ing six rock­et-assist­ed war­heads, two boost­ers, nine chest rigs, a pres­sure plate ini­ti­a­tion device; a 50-pound jug of home­made explo­sives and mis­cel­la­neous shrap­nel. An explo­sive ord­nance dis­pos­al team destroyed the haz­ardous material. 

— In Kandahar’s Reg­is­tan dis­trict yes­ter­day, an ISAF patrol came across a burn­ing truck that matched the descrip­tion of one seen ear­li­er avoid­ing a check­point. Troops search­ing the scene dis­cov­ered that the truck con­tained about 500 pounds of hashish and heroin. 

— In Kab­ul province’s Saro­bi dis­trict yes­ter­day, an ISAF patrol found 43 anti-per­son­nel mines, 20 rock­ets, five mor­tar rounds, an anti-tank mine and 40 box­es of 12.7 mm rounds. 

— An ISAF patrol Ghazni’s Gelan dis­trict yes­ter­day found a five RPGs, 12 mor­tar grenades, two assault rifles, a shot­gun and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition. 

— In Kandahar’s Arghandab dis­trict yes­ter­day, an Afghan civil­ian point­ed out a road­side bomb to an ISAF patrol. It con­sist­ed of an 88 mm mor­tar round and three shaped charges. — A com­bined patrol found two trucks con­tain­ing 2,040 pounds of raw opi­um, 1,875 pounds of processed opi­um and 615 pounds of hashish in the Garm Ser dis­trict of Hel­mand province yes­ter­day. The truck’s occu­pants were tak­en into custody. 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al patrol in Helmand’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict yes­ter­day found 150 pounds of home­made explo­sives and a 100-pound drum of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a banned fer­til­iz­er that can be used to make explosives. 

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban bomb­ing-cell com­man­der and oth­er mil­i­tants in Hel­mand province April 17. 

— In Helmand’s Garm Ser dis­trict April 17, a com­bined patrol found a 120 mm pro­jec­tile, five com­plet­ed road­side bombs, three incom­plete road­side bombs, three bat­tery packs, some spools of wire, a bag of car­bon rods, rub­ber tub­ing and oth­er parts for bomb construction. 

— In Helmand’s Lashkar Gar dis­trict April 17, a com­bined patrol detained sev­er­al men and seized high-val­ue mate­r­i­al used to build road­side-bomb det­o­na­tors. The team seized two assault rifles with 15 mag­a­zines, mate­r­i­al used to build det­o­na­tors, a pis­tol, two grenades, and 165 pounds of liq­uid opium. 

— Based on a tip from an Afghan civil­ian, an ISAF patrol found a bar­rel full of mor­tar rounds, a tac­ti­cal vest and wire, two 155 mm artillery rounds, a 155 mm shell and three emp­ty cas­ings in the Pan­jwa dis­trict of Kan­da­har province April 17. 

— An ISAF patrol in Helmand’s Reg‑e Khan Neshin dis­trict found 200 pounds of mar­i­jua­na seed near the Hel­mand Riv­er. No civil­ians were harmed in any of these oper­a­tions, offi­cials said. 

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