Afghanistan — Officials Confirm Death of Taliban Leader

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2010 — Offi­cials from NATO’s Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force in Afghanistan today con­firmed the death of a Tal­iban leader killed in a gun bat­tle with Afghan and coali­tion forces Nov. 28 in Pak­tiya province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Eisa Gul, a Tal­iban bomb­ing cell leader, was among sev­er­al oth­er insur­gents killed dur­ing an Afghan and coali­tion force oper­a­tion in the Zur­mat dis­trict. The joint force searched sev­er­al com­pounds for Gul, and even­tu­al­ly received fire from him and his men, offi­cials report­ed.

ISAF also con­firmed today that a Tal­iban weapons facil­i­ta­tor was detained by Afghan and coali­tion forces dur­ing a Nov. 27 oper­a­tion in Pak­ti­ka province, mil­i­tary offi­cials reported. 

Afghan and coali­tion forces were search­ing for the indi­vid­ual in the Sha­ran dis­trict, fol­low­ing tips from local res­i­dents. The com­bined force con­firmed the individual’s loca­tion and called for occu­pants to peace­ful­ly exit the com­pound. The indi­vid­ual and an asso­ciate sur­ren­dered and were tak­en into cus­tody for ques­tion­ing, offi­cials report­ed. ISAF Joint Com­mand offi­cials also pro­vid­ed details on oth­er recent operations. 

In oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed numer­ous armed insur­gents in Kunar province’s Ghazi­abad dis­trict. The com­bined force was patrolling the area when they came under attack. Troops returned fire and also called for artillery and close-air sup­port. Ini­tial reports indi­cate that no civil­ians were injured and at least 20 insur­gents were killed. 

— In Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑E Saraj dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces killed one insur­gent and detained numer­ous oth­ers. The joint patrol tar­get­ed a Tal­iban leader ISAF believes con­structs, facil­i­tates and plants road­side bombs. Mul­ti­ple intel­li­gence sources and tips from local res­i­dents led the com­bined force to the individual’s com­pound. Bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and det­o­na­tors were found and destroyed at the scene, offi­cials said. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces in Pak­tiya province’s Zur­mat dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The Tal­iban leader report­ed­ly leads a 15-mem­ber cell that reg­u­lar­ly launch­es attacks on Afghan and coali­tion forces and emplaces road­side bombs along pub­lic roads. The indi­vid­u­als sur­ren­dered with­out inci­dent, offi­cials said. 

— In Khost province’s Ter­ayzai dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces tar­get­ed a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor and oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents. Secu­ri­ty forces wound­ed one insur­gent dur­ing an ini­tial engage­ment, but the remain­ing sus­pects sur­ren­dered. Twen­ty-two Haqqani lead­ers have been cap­tured or killed this month. 

— In Hel­mand province’s Nawah-ye Barakzai dis­trict, Afghan and coali­tion forces cap­tured a known kid­nap­per and bomb facil­i­ta­tor. The secu­ri­ty force also detained sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents with­out conflict. 

Secu­ri­ty forces used intel­li­gence leads to cap­ture more than 50 Tal­iban lead­ers through­out Afghanistan this month. More than 92 per­cent of the oper­a­tions were con­duct­ed with­out shots fired. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces found and destroyed two weapons caches — one in Kun­duz province and the oth­er in Log­ar province. Secu­ri­ty forces found 10 artillery rounds, one machine­gun, one rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er, one anti-tank mine and numer­ous amounts of bomb-mak­ing materials. 

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

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