Airstrike Kills Insurgents in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces employed an airstrike that killed sev­er­al insur­gents in Afghanistan’s Hel­mand province yes­ter­day.
Ground forces observed a group of insur­gents build­ing a fight­ing posi­tion in Helmand’s Qalah dis­trict. A fol­low-on pre­ci­sion airstrike killed sev­er­al of the insur­gents.

In oth­er news yes­ter­day through­out Afghanistan: 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har City. The Tal­iban leader is linked to weapons traf­fick­ing and coor­di­nat­ing attacks on local secu­ri­ty forces in the area. 

— In Kan­da­har province’s Arghandab dis­trict, troops detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent and found a weapons stock­pile of assort­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, includ­ing 21 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate –- a banned fer­til­iz­er used in road­side bombs -– and 15 pounds of scrap metal. 

— Forces found sev­er­al oth­er weapons and drug stock­piles in oper­a­tions through­out Afghanistan. The oper­a­tions result­ed in seizure of 23 var­i­ous artillery rounds, sev­en rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, four pres­sure plates, two radio-con­trolled receivers and oth­er assort­ed bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als. Troops also found 350 pounds of hashish, 200 pounds of pop­py seeds and 20 pounds of opium. 

In a March 1 oper­a­tion, Afghan and coali­tion forces found 1,000 auto­mat­ic machine gun rounds, 220 pounds of explo­sives, 15 large-cal­iber vehi­cle-mount­ed machine guns, five rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­ers and a Toy­ota sedan rigged with explosives. 

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

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