Coalition, Afghans Seize Weapons, Capture Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2011 — Coali­tion and Afghan forces today seized weapons and drug caches in south­ern and east­ern Afghanistan fol­low­ing two days of mul­ti­ple engage­ments with insur­gent fight­ers, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

A coali­tion secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache while con­duct­ing a patrol in the Mar­ja dis­trict of Hel­mand province today. The cache con­sist­ed of 700 7.62 mm rounds, nine 9 mm rounds, two assault rifles and five mag­a­zines. The weapons were seized by the secu­ri­ty force to be destroyed later. 

In the Mai­wand dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force destroyed a 550-pound cache of mar­i­jua­na while on patrol. 

Anoth­er com­bined force, act­ing on a local Afghan’s tip, found and destroyed 17 80 mm mor­tar rounds in the Bagram dis­trict of Par­wan province. 

On Nov. 19, a com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban ammu­ni­tion and explo­sives sup­pli­er in Zab­ul province’s Qalat dis­trict. An addi­tion­al sus­pect was detained. 

In oth­er Nov. 19 operations: 

— A coali­tion force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Mar­ja after receiv­ing infor­ma­tion that insur­gents were at a com­pound in the area. After the force called for the men to come out peace­ful­ly, the insur­gents emerged and were detained with­out incident. 

— In Helmand’s Kaja­ki dis­trict, a com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of a Tal­iban mem­ber who coor­di­nates the move­ment of sup­plies for insur­gents there. The secu­ri­ty force con­fis­cat­ed road­side bombs and bomb-mak­ing materials. 

— A com­bined force oper­at­ing in Pak­tia province’s Zur­mat dis­trict cap­tured a Tal­iban road­side bomb coor­di­na­tor and an addi­tion­al suspect. 

— In the Behsud dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of an al-Qai­da mem­ber who trans­ports insur­gent fight­ers and sup­plies from Nan­garhar to Kunar province. 

In Nov. 18 operations: 

— Dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion to search for an al-Qai­da train­er and couri­er in the Sayyid­abad dis­trict of War­dak province, a shoot­er engaged the secu­ri­ty force with small-arms fire from inside a build­ing. The force returned fire, killing the man, then detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents and destroyed mul­ti­ple weapons, includ­ing bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, firearms, grenades and ammunition. 

— A coali­tion force act­ing on a tip in Mar­ja found and seized five rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, 40 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion and 30 feet of det­o­na­tion cord. 

— A Tal­iban leader plan­ning large-scale attacks in Kan­da­har province was cap­tured there by a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force. 

— Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force offi­cials are inves­ti­gat­ing a fire­fight that broke out in the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province when insur­gents fired on a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force at an Afghan secu­ri­ty forces check­point. Engaged with rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, mor­tar and small-arms fire, the force request­ed air sup­port. After mul­ti­ple attempts to iden­ti­fy them­selves as friend­ly forces, the force was unable to stop the threat and engaged the check­point in self-defense, killing two peo­ple. Afghan police respond­ed to assess the sit­u­a­tion and ren­der med­ical care. Three addi­tion­al per­son­nel were wounded. 

— A coali­tion patrol in Helmand’s Kaja­ki dis­trict found and destroyed an 82 mm mor­tar and 17 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader who planned sui­cide-bomb attacks in the Bak dis­trict of Khost province. The secu­ri­ty force detained two addi­tion­al suspects. 

— In Khost’s Ter­ayzai dis­trict, a com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents and seized var­i­ous weapons dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of a Haqqani net­work coordinator. 

— A com­bined force in Khost’s Sper­ah dis­trict detained mul­ti­ple sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of a Haqqani net­work leader who directs the move­ment of senior Haqqani lead­ers and dis­trib­utes weapons, vehi­cles and munitions. 

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