Afghanistan — Officials in Afghanistan Provide Details of Operations

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2010 — Mil­i­tary offi­cials in Afghanistan have pro­vid­ed details of var­i­ous recent oper­a­tions that result­ed in ene­my fight­ers being killed or cap­tured.

— A com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict cap­tured sev­er­al Haqqani ter­ror­ism net­work com­man­ders and oth­er indi­vid­u­als last night and ear­ly this morn­ing. The Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tors are believed to be respon­si­ble for plan­ning and exe­cut­ing bomb­ing attacks and mil­i­tant oper­a­tions against coali­tion forces, sup­ply­ing weapons and direct­ing attacks in Khost’s Sabari and Yaqubi districts. 

— A sep­a­rate Afghan-inter­na­tion­al force detained sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als sus­pect­ed of mil­i­tant activ­i­ty in Farah province’s Gulis­tan dis­trict yesterday. 

— In Zab­ul province’s Tarnek wa Jal­dak dis­trict last night, an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force cap­tured a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der believed to be respon­si­ble for plan­ning, coor­di­nat­ing, and lead­ing attacks against coali­tion forces in the Tarnek wa Jal­dak and Qalat districts. 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al patrol in Badghis province’s Murghab dis­trict found four 120 mm mor­tars, sev­er­al 82 mm mor­tars and 107mm rock­ets, com­plete road­side bombs and bomb-mak­ing materials. 

— Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed by an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al force in Farah province’s Gulis­tan dis­trict yes­ter­day. The secu­ri­ty force inter­dict­ed a vehi­cle after intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion con­firmed insur­gent activ­i­ty, and came under small-arms fire when approach­ing the vehi­cle. The com­bined force returned fire and killed the vehicle’s occupants. 

— Afghan forces, aid­ed by inter­na­tion­al troops, secured the Barg‑e Matal dis­trict cen­ter in Nuris­tan province last night. “This suc­cess­ful oper­a­tion by Afghan forces will return gov­er­nance to Barg‑e Matal,” said Zemarai Bashary, an Afghan inte­ri­or min­istry spokesman. “This oper­a­tion shows the improved plan­ning and oper­a­tional capa­bil­i­ties of our joint forces in response to seri­ous inci­dents even in the most remote loca­tions of Afghanistan.” 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al force used a pre­ci­sion air strike to kill Tal­iban com­man­der Haji Amir, one of the two most senior Tal­iban lead­ers in Kan­da­har province, and sev­er­al of his fight­ers May 30 in the province’s Pan­jwai dis­trict. He and his fight­ers had been tracked for sev­er­al days, and when they stopped at a small unoc­cu­pied mud hut in a farm­ing area near the vil­lage of Zangabad, the com­bined force called in the air strike. The Tal­iban leader, who escaped from Sar­posa Prison in a Tal­iban-coor­di­nat­ed prison break in June 2008, recent­ly had been in Pak­istan plan­ning the Taliban’s upcom­ing attacks, and he returned to Afghanistan in April to lead attacks against coali­tion and Afghan forces. 

— A sep­a­rate Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pects while search­ing a series of com­pounds in Helmand’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict the night of May 30. Sev­er­al of the sus­pects tried to flee, but were quick­ly and safe­ly caught. Weapons and more than 60 pounds of wet opi­um were seized dur­ing the search. 

— Ear­ly yes­ter­day, the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force sup­port­ed Afghan forces oper­a­tions in Nuris­tan province by deliv­er­ing pre­ci­sion-guid­ed air strikes on known insur­gent loca­tions near Barg‑e Matal. The strikes were request­ed by local offi­cials and Afghan com­man­ders. Extreme care was giv­en to val­i­dat­ing the tar­gets, which were under sur­veil­lance for an extend­ed peri­od of time, ISAF offi­cials said. 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als sus­pect­ed of insur­gent activ­i­ty in Helmand’s Now Zad dis­trict May 30. 

A com­bined force detained sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als sus­pect­ed of insur­gent activ­i­ties west of Kan­da­har City in Kan­da­har province the night of May 29. The search team found weapons and com­mu­ni­ca­tions equipment 

— Also on May 29, an insur­gent mor­tar team was killed by a pre­ci­sion air strike in Pak­tia province. The mor­tar team fired on coali­tion forces from a rur­al area in the Zor­mat dis­trict. As the mor­tar team attempt­ed to dri­ve away after the attack, coali­tion air­craft engaged the vehi­cle with a pre­ci­sion air strike, killing the insur­gents. A ground search team found a mor­tar sys­tem and mor­tar pro­pel­lant in the vehicle. 

— Afghan and ISAF part­ners con­duct­ed a com­bined oper­a­tion ear­ly May 29 near Sang­bor in Hel­mand province to dis­rupt a Tal­iban group respon­si­ble for sup­ply­ing road­side-bomb com­po­nents. As the com­bined force approached the com­pound of inter­est, sev­er­al men tried to flee. One pre­sent­ed a threat to the force and was killed, while the oth­er men were detained. Sev­er­al women and chil­dren were pro­tect­ed in this oper­a­tion, offi­cials said. 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force used pre­ci­sion air strikes to kill the Tal­iban shad­ow gov­er­nor of Bagh­lan province and sev­er­al of his fight­ers the night of May 28. Air­craft were called to a rur­al area in the Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict after intel­li­gence sources con­firmed two vehi­cles were trans­port­ing insur­gents and weapons through the area. Before engag­ing, coali­tion forces wait­ed until the vehi­cles were well clear of any struc­tures to min­i­mize the pos­si­bil­i­ty of civil­ian casu­al­ties, offi­cials said. When the armed pas­sen­gers left the vehi­cles, they were engaged and killed by an air strike. A ground secu­ri­ty force then entered the area and came under fire from insur­gents in a near­by cave. The assault force returned fire, killing sev­er­al heav­i­ly armed insur­gents. The Tal­iban shad­ow gov­er­nor was respon­si­ble for orga­niz­ing and direct­ing attacks against coali­tion forces and was in con­stant con­tact with Kun­duz and Pak­istani Tal­iban senior lead­ers, pro­vid­ing updates and receiv­ing guid­ance. Sources told coali­tion forces the Tal­iban forces had been plan­ning an attack on a near­by Afghan Nation­al Police outpost. 

— An Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force killed sev­er­al insur­gents and cap­tured sev­er­al oth­ers in Kandahar’s Zharay dis­trict May 29. As the assault force approached, sev­er­al armed men took up fight­ing posi­tions in a near­by orchard. The com­bined force called for them to sur­ren­der, but the armed men began fir­ing machine guns and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades at the secu­ri­ty force. The assault force returned fire and began clear­ing the com­pound and imme­di­ate area. Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed and cap­tured after a lengthy fire­fight. The com­bined force found sev­er­al plant­ed road­side bombs in the area, as well as rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, heavy machine guns, mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic rifles, hand-grenades, ammu­ni­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tions equipment. 

— Also on May 29, secu­ri­ty com­bined force detained sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als sus­pect­ed of insur­gent activ­i­ty in Khost’s Musa Khel dis­trict and found rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and auto­mat­ic rifles at the site. 

— In War­dak province May 29, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban weapons facil­i­ta­tor and anoth­er mil­i­tant. The secu­ri­ty force came under fire from a sniper and returned fire, killing him. The force’s search team found mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic rifles and ammunition. 

— In Kandahar’s Pan­jwai dis­trict May 28, an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al force cap­tured a Tal­iban com­man­der and sev­er­al oth­er men sus­pect­ed of mil­i­tant activ­i­ty. The Tal­iban com­man­der is believed to be respon­si­ble for plan­ning and exe­cut­ing attacks against coali­tion forces, and also is sus­pect­ed of being involved in kid­nap­pings and weapons facilitation. 

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