Afghanistan — Operations, Enemy Attacks on Civilians Continue in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2010 — As mil­i­tary oper­a­tions con­tin­ue across Afghanistan, ene­my actions con­tin­ue to kill or injure Afghan civil­ians, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Offi­cials pro­vid­ed details of sev­er­al recent operations. 

In Farah province: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces locat­ed, seized and destroyed four 122 mm artillery shells in the Bala Boluk dis­trict yesterday. 

In Hel­mand province: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in the Mar­ja dis­trict yes­ter­day while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der who is respon­si­ble for order­ing small-arms and bomb­ing attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces. 

–In Kan­da­har province: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in the province’s Kan­da­har dis­trict yes­ter­day while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der respon­si­ble for ambush­es and bomb­ing attacks against civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces. The com­man­der also is believed to be involved in the acqui­si­tion of weapons and munitions. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force killed one insur­gent and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in the Zharay dis­trict last night while in pur­suit of the Tal­iban dis­trict com­man­der for Arghandab, who leads vio­lent kid­nap­ping and assas­si­na­tion oper­a­tions that have involved explo­sives. As the assault force depart­ed the area, their air­craft took fire from insur­gents on the ground. The air weapons team returned fire, killing one insurgent. 

In Pak­tia province: 

— Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials con­firmed the cap­ture of a Tal­iban sui­cide-bomber facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing an Afghan-led oper­a­tion Aug. 7. The facil­i­ta­tor is believed to have been respon­si­ble for the move­ment of weapons and ammu­ni­tion. The assault force also detained sev­er­al addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther questioning. 

In Pak­ti­ka province: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in the Mota Khan dis­trict yes­ter­day, includ­ing a Tal­iban dis­trict-lev­el facil­i­ta­tor for Zur­mat and Gardez dis­tricts of neigh­bor­ing Pak­tia province. The facil­i­ta­tor led an intel­li­gence and ear­ly warn­ing net­work in south­ern Pak­tia and was involved in ambush oper­a­tions, offi­cials said. 

— Coali­tion forces repelled three sep­a­rate insur­gent attacks in the province yes­ter­day. In one attack, Afghan and coali­tion forces defend­ed their for­ward oper­at­ing base against insur­gent small-arms and mor­tar fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents. In two oth­er attacks, insur­gent forces fired mor­tars at the for­ward oper­at­ing bases. No coali­tion forces were hurt in the attacks. 

In oth­er news from Afghanistan, the provin­cial recon­struc­tion team in Pan­jshir province is assist­ing the local Afghan gov­ern­ment in response to flood­ing that start­ed last week in the Abdul­lah Khel val­ley, where some roads are impass­able and some farm land is flood­ed along the river. 

The team is work­ing close­ly with Dara dis­trict Gov. Malam Sorab and Afghan secu­ri­ty forces to repair infra­struc­ture dam­aged dur­ing the flood­ing, and is pro­vid­ing heavy equip­ment for road repair. 

Mean­while, ene­my actions con­tin­ue to kill or injure Afghan civil­ians and tar­get gov­ern­ment leaders. 

Eight Afghan civil­ians, includ­ing six chil­dren, were wound­ed dur­ing insur­gent attacks on a coali­tion out­post and the Kan­da­har governor’s palace in the past two days. 

Four Afghan civil­ians were injured, includ­ing two chil­dren, when insur­gents attacked a coali­tion out­post yes­ter­day with small-arms and rock­et-pro­pelled-grenade fire in the Watah­pur dis­trict of Kunar province. Four more Afghan chil­dren were wound­ed when insur­gents attacked the Kan­da­har governor’s palace with a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade Aug. 8. 

A civil­ian was killed by a road­side bomb in the Kan­da­har dis­trict of Kan­da­har province yes­ter­day. In a sep­a­rate inci­dent yes­ter­day, a child was wound­ed in a bomb blast in Kandahar’s Pan­jwai dis­trict. Coali­tion forces evac­u­at­ed the child to a coali­tion hospital. 

In Hel­mand on Aug. 8, an insur­gent bomb killed two civil­ians and injured five oth­ers in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict, where an Afghan-led com­bined secu­ri­ty patrol was being con­duct­ed. Mem­bers of a spe­cial oper­a­tions med­ical team treat­ed the injured at the scene and had them air­lift­ed to a near­by med­ical facil­i­ty for fur­ther treatment. 

A large num­ber of insur­gents launched sev­er­al attacks on the Afghan-led patrol using small-arms and sniper fire, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and 38 mm grenades through­out the engage­ment, offi­cials said. The part­nered force returned fire, killing more than 10 insur­gents. The com­bined force also found and destroyed sev­er­al weapons and explo­sive caches. 

In Badghis province’s Qadis dis­trict yes­ter­day, a preg­nant wid­ow report­ed­ly was whipped 200 times and shot in pub­lic by a Tal­iban com­man­der for alleged adul­tery, offi­cials said. 

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

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