Afghanistan — Helicopter Lands Hard in Afghanistan; Operations Continue

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2010 — An Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force heli­copter made a hard land­ing along the perime­ter of a coali­tion force camp in Kab­ul province, Afghanistan, today.

Four pas­sen­gers suf­fered minor injuries. The inci­dent is under investigation. 

In yesterday’s Afghanistan news: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents yes­ter­day in Nan­garhar province, includ­ing a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der oper­at­ing in Khugyani dis­trict who was linked to sev­er­al attacks against coali­tion forces, includ­ing a rock­et attack on Jalal­abad Air­field on Christ­mas day last year. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in Behsud dis­trict in pur­suit of the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to peace­ful­ly exit the com­pound and then secured the area. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained the com­man­der and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. An AK-47 rifle and three ammu­ni­tion mag­a­zines were found at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent and killed one in Log­ar province last night dur­ing offen­sive clear­ing oper­a­tions. Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces tar­get­ed sev­er­al areas sus­pect­ed of insur­gent activ­i­ty in the Charkh and Bara­ki Barak dis­tricts of Log­ar province. Near Qaryeh-ya Gol’alam in Bara­ki Barak one insur­gent was killed after he attempt­ed to attack the secu­ri­ty force using a hand grenade. The com­bined force also detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent in the same area after an auto­mat­ic weapon and chest rack were found in his home. The women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force last night detained two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents an oper­a­tion in Zab­ul province. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed one insur­gent and detained sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province last night while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban bomb mak­er who prof­its from the traf­fick­ing of impro­vised explo­sive device mate­ri­als, weapons, and ammu­ni­tion through­out the province. The Tal­iban bomb mak­er also com­mands his own group of fight­ers and orders impro­vised explo­sive device attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents and wound­ed two in Ghazni province last night while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der who oper­ates main­ly in the Mota Khan dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province. The secu­ri­ty force also detained two sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

In July 24 Afghanistan news: 

— Two Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force mem­bers yes­ter­day depart­ed their com­pound in Kab­ul City in a vehi­cle and did not return. The unit dis­patched vehi­cles and rotary-winged assets to search for them and their vehi­cle, and the search is ongo­ing. Details will be released as they become available. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Khost province includ­ing a Haqqani Net­work sub-com­man­der respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing and con­duct­ing impro­vised explo­sive device attacks against Afghan civil­ians, and Afghan and coali­tion forces in the region. Mul­ti­ple rifles and grenades were found at the scene. No shots were fired and the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Zab­ul province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der, who coor­di­nates attacks against Afghan civil­ians, Afghan and coali­tion forces. He also orches­trat­ed kid­nap­pings of Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials, Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Forces and civil­ians in the Qalat dis­trict. The secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered and destroyed impro­vised explo­sive device mate­ri­als at the scene. No shots were fired and the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Kan­da­har province last night includ­ing a Tal­iban impro­vised explo­sive device cell leader oper­at­ing in the San­jer­ay area. The cell leader was also respon­si­ble for coor­di­nat­ing sup­ply and logis­ti­cal issues with Pak­istan-based facil­i­ta­tors. The secu­ri­ty force detained the IED cell leader and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. No shots were fired and the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Log­ar province dur­ing offen­sive clear­ing oper­a­tions. The first secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a series of com­pounds in the vil­lage of Mol­lakay in Charkh dis­trict and Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to peace­ful­ly exit each com­pound. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent for fur­ther questioning. 

A sec­ond secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed sev­er­al tents and build­ings in a remote area in Khar­war dis­trict. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to peace­ful­ly iden­ti­fy them­selves to the secu­ri­ty force. After ques­tion­ing every­one present, the secu­ri­ty force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. No shots were fired and the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province last night while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der for Nad ‘Ali dis­trict. After ques­tion­ing the res­i­dents, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. The women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. 

— The ISAF con­firmed the cap­ture of a Haqqani Net­work sub­com­man­der linked to attacks against coali­tion forces and respon­si­ble for facil­i­tat­ing the move­ment of weapons and ammu­ni­tion into the Ter­ayzai dis­trict of Khost dur­ing an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion. The sub­com­man­der was cap­tured along with a Haqqani Net­work facil­i­ta­tor who pri­mar­i­ly planned and con­duct­ed attacks against coali­tion forces and Afghan offi­cials through­out Khost province. The secu­ri­ty force detained the sub­com­man­der and facil­i­ta­tor for fur­ther questioning. 

In July 23 Afghanistan news: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed two armed men and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Khost province while in pur­suit of a Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor for remote con­trolled impro­vised explo­sive devices who also plans and con­ducts attacks against coali­tion forces in the area. The com­bined secu­ri­ty force went to a series of com­pounds north of Khva­jeh Moham­mad Kala in Ter­ayzai dis­trict in pur­suit of the Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor. As the secu­ri­ty force began enter­ing the build­ings, two men armed with AK-47’s and chest racks failed to com­ply with warn­ings and demon­strat­ed a threat towards the com­bined secu­ri­ty force. The com­bined force used pre­ci­sion fire, killing two insur­gents. Mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, mag­a­zines and grenades were found at the scene. After the com­pounds were cleared and secured, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. The women and chil­dren present were pro­tect­ed through­out the search by Afghan forces. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained four sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Pak­ti­ka province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der involved in impro­vised explo­sive device attacks against coali­tion forces. The Tal­iban sub­com­man­der also acts as a Mul­lah who bless­es the actions of for­eign-influ­enced insur­gents who intim­i­date the pop­u­la­tion in order to dis­rupt the secu­ri­ty efforts of the Gov­ern­ment of the Islam­ic Repub­lic of Afghanistan in Mota Khan. No shots were fired dur­ing the oper­a­tion and the women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed through­out the search. About 300,000 Pak­istani rupees also were found at the scene. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Bagh­lan province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban dis­trict com­man­der for Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict and a Tal­iban mil­i­tary com­man­der in charge of numer­ous insur­gent fighters. 

— An Afghan-coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two men and seized a sus­pect­ed ene­my weapons cache in Suro­bi dis­trict in Kab­ul province. The cache con­tained four 107 mm rock­ets and one fuse, two 76 mm recoil­less rock­ets, two .22-cal­iber pis­tols and mag­a­zines, two impro­vised explo­sive devices, one .303-cal­iber rifle with a loaded mag­a­zine and one box of machine gun ammu­ni­tion. Elec­tri­cal com­po­nents and det­o­na­tion cord were also confiscated. 

— An Afghan Nation­al Police Spe­cial Response Team killed sev­er­al insur­gents at an ille­gal check­point along High­way 1 in War­dak province. Accord­ing to ANP offi­cials, ille­gal check­points are com­mon meth­ods of harass­ment by insur­gents, who use these check­points to extort mon­ey from trav­el­ers and to iden­ti­fy indi­vid­u­als they believe favor Afghan and coali­tion forces. The six ANP offi­cers were trav­el­ing togeth­er on leave through Shekhabad dis­trict when they approached sev­er­al insur­gents in the road. After being forced to stop and exit their vehi­cle, the ANP offi­cers were guid­ed off the road toward a ditch by two insur­gent mem­bers. The insur­gents, unaware the men they stopped were ANP offi­cers, were caught by sur­prise as the offi­cers were able to gain the upper-hand, draw their pis­tols and shoot and kill both insur­gents, accord­ing to ANP offi­cials. A third gun­man fired on the offi­cers, forc­ing them to take cov­er and then flee the check­point on foot. ANP offi­cials said the offi­cers fled to a near­by Afghan Nation­al Army base to gath­er rein­force­ments, and returned to the scene to take down the false check­point. No ANA or ANP per­son­nel were injured dur­ing the engagement. 

“This inci­dent shows the capa­bil­i­ties of the ANP,” said Lt. Col. Don­ald Franklin, Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Force — East com­man­der. “They’ve become a high­ly skilled force, trained and com­mit­ted to pro­tect­ing the peo­ple of Afghanistan from insur­gent intim­i­da­tion and extortion.” 

— Afghan Nation­al Army Com­man­dos, assist­ed by U.S. Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Forces, killed a large group of insur­gent fight­ers while pur­su­ing a known Tal­iban net­work in Nuris­tan province. Afghan sol­diers assigned to the 3rd Com­pa­ny, 1st Com­man­do Kan­dak along with U.S. Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Forces con­duct­ed clear­ing oper­a­tions near the vil­lage of Awlag­ul in Barg‑e Matal dis­trict to dis­rupt the Tal­iban activ­i­ty, accord­ing to coali­tion offi­cials. As the part­nered force entered the area, coali­tion offi­cials said their forces were met with heavy resis­tance from insur­gents using small arms and auto­mat­ic weapons. Dur­ing the search of the sur­round­ing area, the Afghan-led force found 35 rock­et pro­pelled grenades, six pro­pel­lant charges, 1000 rounds of .50-cal­iber ammu­ni­tion, 500 rounds of 7.62 mm ammu­ni­tion, numer­ous mor­tar rounds, and sev­er­al hun­dred pounds of explo­sives along with a spool of fuse and blast­ing caps. The cache was destroyed on site. No non-com­bat­ants were harmed dur­ing the oper­a­tion and no prop­er­ty dam­age was reported. 

— ISAF offi­cials are inves­ti­gat­ing an inci­dent that occurred near the town of Kha­ki Ban­deh in the Wat­a­pur dis­trict of Kunar province that result­ed in the death of an Afghan civil­ian. Three oth­er civil­ians were wound­ed. When ISAF forces received intel­li­gence reports of an immi­nent attack against a com­bat out­post they fired two mor­tar rounds near a his­toric insur­gent fir­ing posi­tion. The posi­tion had been used sev­er­al times in the past week to con­duct small-arms and rock­et-pro­pelled grenade attacks on the out­post. Fol­low­ing the mor­tar fire, an Afghan civil­ian from Kha­ki Ban­deh report­ed that one civil­ian was killed and three wound­ed. The civil­ian refused coali­tion assis­tance and the injured were tak­en to a local hospital. 

“We are deeply sad­dened by the loss of Afghan cit­i­zens,” said Lt. Col. Ran­dall Har­ris, Task Force Bas­togne deputy com­mand­ing offi­cer. “We do every­thing with­in our pow­er to pre­vent civil­ian casu­al­ties in the course of oper­a­tions — the safe­ty of the Afghan peo­ple is very impor­tant to the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Forces.” The inci­dent is under investigation. 

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