Afghanistan — Forces Capture Militants, Seize Weapons Stockpiles

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2010 — An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban bomb expert and two oth­er mil­i­tants dur­ing an oper­a­tion con­duct­ed in the Khogyani dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Nan­garhar province last night, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

As the com­bined force approached the com­pound, an armed com­bat­ant was spot­ted climb­ing onto a roof. The com­bat­ant dis­played hos­tile intent and was shot and killed. After secur­ing the area the com­bined force dis­cov­ered the com­bat­ant was a woman. 

Dur­ing a search of the com­pound, the force cap­tured a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der who is a bomb expert believed to be respon­si­ble for man­u­fac­tur­ing, emplac­ing and train­ing oth­er mil­i­tants in road­side-bomb tactics. 

Two oth­er mil­i­tants also were cap­tured, and the secu­ri­ty force recov­ered auto­mat­ic rifles and ammu­ni­tion at the compound. 

In Ghazni province yes­ter­day, a joint patrol found a weapons cache con­tain­ing 37 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, 27 RPG fus­es and 24 grenades. In Hel­mand province’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol found an 82mm mor­tar base plate, a chest rig for car­ry­ing ammu­ni­tion, an assault rifle, ammu­ni­tion mag­a­zines and ammunition. 

In three sep­a­rate inci­dents yes­ter­day, com­bined Afghan and inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty patrols dis­cov­ered sig­nif­i­cant insur­gent weapon caches. The first, con­sist­ing of 108 107 mm rock­ets and about 200 feet of wire, was found in Kandahar’s Arghandab district. 

An Afghan civil­ian in Uruz­gan province turned over five anti-tank mines, 38 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, 20 launch­ers and six box­es of 7.62 mm ammu­ni­tion to inter­na­tion­al forces. A third cache in Helmand’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict includ­ed two machine guns, mag­a­zines, more than 12,000 rounds of ammu­ni­tion and three chest rigs for car­ry­ing assault-rifle mag­a­zines. Also found was a bag of rub­ber, often used in pres­sure-plate-oper­at­ed road­side bombs. 

No Afghan civil­ians were harmed in these oper­a­tions, offi­cials said. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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