Afghanistan — Operations in Afghanistan Result in Insurgents Killed, Captured

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2010 — Numer­ous insur­gents were killed or cap­tured in recent oper­a­tions in Afghanistan, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

In Bagh­lan province: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a com­bined oper­a­tion yes­ter­day tar­get­ing two Tal­iban com­man­ders known to lead insur­gent attacks on Afghan and coali­tion forces. Numer­ous armed insur­gents moved to tar­get the com­bined force, which imme­di­ate­ly engaged the insur­gents. Fur­ther insur­gent activ­i­ty through­out the oper­a­tion caused sev­er­al more engage­ments. In all, 12 insur­gent fight­ers were killed. The com­bined force found and destroyed a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er, sev­er­al RPGs and sev­er­al box­es of small-arms ammu­ni­tion at the scene. No civil­ians were injured or killed. 

— Afghan and coali­tion mem­bers on a com­bined mis­sion detained a Tal­iban com­man­der and two addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed com­man­ders Aug. 20. The oper­a­tion in the Pul‑e Khum­ri dis­trict was car­ried out after Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force ser­vice­mem­bers received a tip the com­man­der was hid­ing in a near­by vil­lage. While the Afghan forces were appre­hend­ing the three peo­ple, they also dis­armed three men who were attempt­ing to acquire weapons from with­in the house. Dur­ing the encounter, a man went to the roof and point­ed a weapon at the com­bined patrol, which returned fire. After the fir­ing stopped, mem­bers of the patrol were unable to locate the per­son fir­ing from the roof. Insur­gents again fired on the force with small-arms fire from a tree line sev­er­al min­utes lat­er, but the fir­ing stopped after the force returned fire. 

In Farah province: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force pur­sued a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor known to traf­fic for­eign fight­ers and weapons from Iran and to asso­ciate with senior Tal­iban and al-Qai­da lead­er­ship. Six insur­gents were killed and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents were detained in the oper­a­tion. Dur­ing the engage­ment, the air weapons team struck the tar­get­ed individual’s vehi­cle, which sub­se­quent­ly explod­ed. The secu­ri­ty force con­duct­ed a fol­low-on inves­ti­ga­tion and assessed the vehi­cle may have been full of home­made explo­sives. A woman and two chil­dren were found dead at the scene as a result of the coali­tion force engage­ment. ISAF offi­cials expressed regret for the civil­ian casu­al­ties, offered con­do­lences to the fam­i­lies, and announced an inves­ti­ga­tion into the inci­dent would take place. 

In Hel­mand province: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents in the Lashkar Gah dis­trict Aug. 20 while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces in an area heavy with con­stant Tal­iban attacks. The assault force found mul­ti­ple blast­ing caps, man­u­als on mines and a shot­gun at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and they pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

— Also in the Laskar Gah dis­trict Aug. 20, Afghan and coali­tion search­ing for the same Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in a sep­a­rate oper­a­tion. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and they pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

In Kan­da­har province:

Clear­ing oper­a­tions con­tin­ued as an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detain six sus­pect­ed insur­gents yes­ter­day while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der in charge of bomb­ing attacks and train­ing in Arghandab dis­trict. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and they pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the searches. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in the Arghandab dis­trict Aug. 21, includ­ing a Tal­iban com­man­der involved in ambush­es, bomb­ing attacks and the acqui­si­tion of weapons and muni­tions. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed two Tal­iban com­man­ders at a series of com­pounds in a dis­trict vil­lage. At the first com­pound, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained one of the tar­get­ed com­man­ders and three addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force then moved to anoth­er com­pound near­by in pur­suit of anoth­er Tal­iban com­man­der and weapons expert who served as the chief of staff for senior Tal­iban com­man­der who was killed in a coali­tion pre­ci­sion air strike last week. The secu­ri­ty force detained three sus­pect­ed insur­gents for fur­ther ques­tion­ing and also found a hand grenade at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and they pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the searches. 

— Also in the Arghandab dis­trict, an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents Aug. 20 while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der involved in ambush­es, bomb­ing attacks and the acqui­si­tion of weapons and muni­tions. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and they pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

In Kun­duz province: 

— In the Cha­har Darah dis­trict Aug. 20, an Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force went to a series of com­pounds to search for the Tal­iban dis­trict com­man­der for Ali­abad, who is direct­ly involved in the plan­ning of attacks against coali­tion forces. As the secu­ri­ty force approached the first tar­get­ed build­ing, two armed insur­gents were shot and killed when they engaged them from a near­by ditch. After the area was secure, Afghan and coali­tion forces went arrest­ed three sus­pect­ed insur­gents at two sep­a­rate com­pounds. The secu­ri­ty force pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

In Log­ar province: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent last night while in pur­suit of the Tal­iban deputy dis­trict com­man­der for the Pul‑e Alam dis­trict. The secu­ri­ty force also found bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and ammu­ni­tion at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force did not fire their weapons, and it pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

In Nan­garhar province: 

— Coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike Aug. 21, tar­get­ing a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der in charge of about 10 fight­ers and facil­i­ta­tion of for­eign fight­ers from Pak­istan to Nan­garhar. Afghan and coali­tion forces tracked the com­man­der as he met with at least 25 insur­gents armed with assault rifles and rock­et-pro­pelled grenades in Deh Bala dis­trict to plan an upcom­ing attack. The com­man­der and a group of 15 insur­gents even­tu­al­ly broke from the group and began walk­ing toward an insur­gent camp. After pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fy­ing the com­man­der and ensur­ing no women or chil­dren were present, coali­tion forces con­duct­ed the pre­ci­sion air strike against the com­man­der. ISAF offi­cials are gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion to deter­mine exact­ly how many insur­gents were killed in the strike. The secu­ri­ty force esti­mat­ed the strike killed about 12 insur­gents, pos­si­bly includ­ing mul­ti­ple Pak­istani fight­ers from Waziris­tan as well as Tal­iban fight­ers. No civil­ians were wound­ed or killed. 

In Pak­tia province: 

— A coali­tion pre­ci­sion air strike yes­ter­day tar­get­ed a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der respon­si­ble for lead­ing a 20-mem­ber insur­gent cell that con­ducts attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. Coali­tion forces tracked two armed insur­gents as they trav­eled on a motor­cy­cle in the remote Zur­mat dis­trict. After intel­li­gence ver­i­fied insur­gent activ­i­ty and ensured no women or chil­dren were present, coali­tion forces con­duct­ed the pre­ci­sion air strike against the two insur­gents, killing both. The insur­gents had assault rifles and ammu­ni­tion. ISAF offi­cials are col­lect­ing infor­ma­tion to deter­mine if the com­man­der was among the insur­gents killed in the strike. No civil­ians were wound­ed or killed. 

— An Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents yes­ter­day while in pur­suit of a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work facil­i­ta­tor for for­eign fight­ers and Haqqani camps in the Sper­ah dis­trict of neigh­bor­ing Khost province. As the secu­ri­ty force moved toward the tar­get­ed com­pound in the Dzad­ran dis­trict, air­borne recon­nais­sance iden­ti­fied two men mov­ing along a tree line dis­play­ing hos­tile intent toward the ground assault force. An air weapons team engaged both men, an assess­ment indi­cat­ed they were killed. After ques­tion­ing all of the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insur­gents and found mul­ti­ple grenades at the scene. The secu­ri­ty force pro­tect­ed women and chil­dren through­out the search. 

In Zab­ul province:

ISAF offi­cials con­firmed that Saad Khan, a Tal­iban com­man­der, was one of the two insur­gents killed Aug. 20 dur­ing an Afghan and coali­tion force oper­a­tion. Khan led attacks against Afghan civil­ians and Afghan and coali­tion forces. The secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the Shah Joy dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. As they approached, an air weapons team saw two armed insur­gents demon­strat­ing hos­tile intent. The air weapons team engaged, killing the com­man­der and his asso­ciate. Dur­ing a fol­low-on inspec­tion of the area, the secu­ri­ty force found an auto­mat­ic weapon with four mag­a­zines and a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er with two rounds. After the area was secure, Afghan forces called for all res­i­dents to come out of the tar­get­ed com­pound peace­ful­ly and then ques­tioned the res­i­dents. The res­i­dents told the secu­ri­ty force that insur­gents steal their food and then bed down in the vicin­i­ty. The secu­ri­ty force did not take detainees from the compound. 

In oth­er news, Afghan forces were con­duct­ing oper­a­tions in north­ern Afghanistan’s Jowz­jan province Aug. 20 when they received small-arms and indi­rect insur­gent fire from an unknown num­ber of insur­gents in mul­ti­ple loca­tions. To sup­press the threat, the Afghan forces request­ed coali­tion close-air sup­port, which was pro­vid­ed by an air weapons team of two heli­copters. The air weapons team fired a Hell­fire mis­sile and 30 mm rounds toward an iden­ti­fied fir­ing posi­tion. A sub­se­quent bat­tle-dam­age assess­ment revealed that three Afghan police offi­cers were acci­den­tal­ly killed and sev­er­al more were wound­ed dur­ing the engage­ment. ISAF offi­cials offered con­do­lences to the fam­i­lies, friends and col­leagues of the fall­en ser­vice­mem­bers and sent an ini­tial assess­ment team to deter­mine the facts. 

In the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province, two Afghan female civil­ians, includ­ing a child, were killed Aug. 21 when insur­gents attacked an Afghan and coali­tion patrol with rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and weapon-mount­ed grenade launch­ers. The com­bined patrol respond­ed with small-arms and mor­tar fire. Fol­low­ing the engage­ment, an Afghan man report­ed that a child had been killed by insur­gent RPG fire. The man then took a wound­ed Afghan woman to a near­by coali­tion patrol base, where she sub­se­quent­ly died of wounds caused by an insur­gent RPG

Also, an insur­gent bomb det­o­nat­ed in north­ern Afghanistan Aug. 21, killing five civil­ians and wound­ing two more. Afghan police and coali­tion forces respond­ed to the site to pro­vide secu­ri­ty and assess the incident. 

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

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