Afghanistan — Forces Capture Taliban Commander in Kandahar

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2010 — Afghan and inter­na­tion­al forces cap­tured a Tal­iban com­man­der in Kan­da­har, Afghanistan, last night, the sec­ond Tal­iban leader seized in the region in recent days, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force cap­tured the man and sev­er­al insur­gents in the vil­lage of Kukaran after intel­li­gence indi­cat­ed insur­gent activ­i­ty there. The com­man­der is believed to be respon­si­ble for lead­ing Tal­iban fight­ers in south­ern Arghandab, coor­di­nat­ing attacks on coali­tion forces and dis­trib­ut­ing rock­ets, impro­vised explo­sive devices, small arms and ammu­ni­tion to fight­ers through­out the area. 

A com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al force cap­tured anoth­er Tal­iban com­man­der north­west of Kan­da­har City on May 22. The man, who sur­ren­dered imme­di­ate­ly when con­front­ed, is believed to be respon­si­ble for ambush­ing coali­tion forces and oth­er attacks in the south­ern Arghandab and Dand districts. 

In oth­er news from Afghanistan: 

— A com­bined secu­ri­ty force seized mate­ri­als used to build impro­vised explo­sive devices fol­low­ing the search of a com­pound in the Cha­har Darah dis­trict of Kun­duz province last night. 

— In Log­ar province last night, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents and seized a weapons cache fol­low­ing a search of a com­pound in Charkh dis­trict. The cache includ­ed sev­er­al rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic rifles, ammu­ni­tion, grenades and notes on how to con­duct sui­cide bombings. 

— In Zab­ul province last night, a com­bined force searched a com­pound in the Shah Joy dis­trict and detained a sus­pect­ed mil­i­tant for fur­ther questioning. 

— In Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol was giv­en per­mis­sion to search a mosque in Musa Qal’ah dis­trict where they seized a cache con­sist­ing of mul­ti­ple AK-47s, 200 pounds of home­made explo­sives, pres­sure plates and a pro-Tal­iban paint­ing. The cache was removed from the mosque and destroyed. 

— Also in the Musa Qal’ah dis­trict yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol found a cache con­sist­ing of 550 pounds of opi­um and two AK-47s with loaded mag­a­zines. Two peo­ple were detained for fur­ther questioning. 

— In west­ern Afghanistan’s Farah province yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol con­fis­cat­ed a large weapons cache in a cave and tun­nel com­plex in the Saji Val­ley. The cache con­tained two com­plete 82 mm mor­tar sys­tems with extra tube and 34 mor­tar rounds, a 14.5 mm anti-air­craft gun with 200 rounds and three spare bar­rels, two 82 mm recoil­less rifle rounds, sev­en RPGs, 175 mor­tar fus­es, 14.5 mm and 12.7 mm ammu­ni­tion, and small-arms ammunition. 

— In the Kaja­ki dis­trict of Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, an inter­na­tion­al patrol found a weapons cache con­sist­ing of two grenades, two mines, six smoke bombs and var­i­ous explo­sive com­po­nents. The cache will be destroyed. 

— In the Wash­er dis­trict of Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­tain­ing more than 1,200 machine gun rounds, three 82 mm mor­tars and four 120 mm mor­tars. The cache was destroyed. In May 21 operations: 

— In Hel­mand province, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing a series of build­ings in Lashkar Gah district. 

— A com­bined force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent in Zab­ul while search­ing a com­pound in Sha Joy district. 

— An inter­na­tion­al patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Pul‑e Khum­ri dis­trict of Bagh­lan province. Recent heavy rains uncov­ered the pre­vi­ous­ly buried muni­tions dis­cov­ered by local chil­dren. The cache, con­sist­ing of 20 82 mm grenades, 15 mines and sev­en artillery rounds, was destroyed. 

— An inter­na­tion­al patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of four 82 mm rock­ets, a machine gun and a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade in the Pan­jwa’i dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The cache was destroyed. 

— A com­bined force destroyed an explo­sives fac­to­ry with a pre­ci­sion air strike in Kan­da­har. The com­bined force was approach­ing a com­pound in a farm­ing area in Zharay dis­trict when they dis­cov­ered the area was heav­i­ly mined to pro­tect the build­ing. Once inside, the force dis­cov­ered a high explo­sives fac­to­ry used by insur­gents to pro­duce IEDs and mines. The secu­ri­ty force called in the strike, which destroyed the build­ing. No Afghan cit­i­zens were harmed dur­ing the operation. 

— In the Bala Baluk dis­trict of Farah province, an inter­na­tion­al patrol found eight det­o­na­tion devices that link sev­er­al charges to one ini­tia­tor, four pres­sure-plate ini­ti­a­tion devices, 20 meters of det­o­na­tion cord, five remote con­trol ini­ti­a­tion devices and 40 bat­tery packs. The cache was con­fis­cat­ed to pre­vent its use in IEDs. 

— In the Murghab dis­trict of Badghis province, a com­bined patrol found two pres­sure-plate IEDs. The devices were destroyed in place. 

— In the Garm Ser dis­trict of Hel­mand province, an ISAF patrol found two bags of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a com­mon ingre­di­ent in IEDs. The mate­r­i­al was con­fis­cat­ed and destroyed. 

— In the Now Zad dis­trict of Hel­mand province, a com­bined patrol found two IEDs, each with 10 pounds of home­made explo­sives. The devices were designed to det­o­nate when stepped on. An explo­sive ord­nance dis­pos­al team destroyed the devices. 

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

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →