Combined Force Detains 7 Suspected Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­en sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a search for an Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan sui­cide bomber in the Imam Sahib dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Kun­duz province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The sought-after sui­cide bomber coor­di­nates the pur­chase and move­ment of weapons, road­side bombs and sui­cide bombers from Takhar to Kun­duz provinces. 

In oth­er Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday:�

— A coali­tion force dis­cov­ered 10 impro­vised explo­sive devices while patrolling near a vil­lage in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province.�The force cor­doned off the area and called in an explo­sive ord­nance dis­pos­al unit, which safe­ly destroyed the IEDs. 

— A com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered an IED cache in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province.�The cache con­tained 12 IEDs, each con­tain­ing about 18 pounds of home-made explosives. 

— Also in Nahr‑e Saraj, a com­bined force detained mul­ti­ple sus­pects dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader who brings in insur­gent fight­ers from Pak­istan and places them under Tal­iban control. 

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader, detained two sus­pects and con­fis­cat­ed weapons and ammu­ni­tion in the Bak dis­trict of Khost province. The leader moved road­side bombs across the bor­der and through­out the province. He also planned vehi­cle-bomb attacks and pro­vid­ed insur­gents with weapons and equipment. 

— Com­bined forces killed 22 insur­gents, detained four sus­pects and seized a weapons cache dur­ing sev­er­al oper­a­tions in the Region­al Com­mand East area. The cache con­tained one explo­sive device, one heavy machine gun, one pis­tol and an assault rifle, one rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er with four rounds, one sniper veil, one light machine gun, some 7.62mm ammu­ni­tion, and three emp­ty magazines. 

— Two unmanned aer­i­al vehi­cles crashed in the Pul-E-Alam dis­trict of Log­ar province and the Behsud dis­trict of Nan­garhar province due to mechan­i­cal prob­lems. Both UAVs were recov­ered and there was lit­tle to no ene­my activ­i­ty in the area pri­or to the crash. 

In Sept. 20 Afghanistan operations: 

— Acom­bined force killed a key Tal­iban leader and an asso­ciate dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Sayyid­abad dis­trict of War­dak province. A pre­ci­sion airstrike killed Tal­iban leader Qari Tahir, after he and an asso­ciate were locat­ed in a dry riverbed. Tahir coor­di­nat­ed ambush­es against Afghan forces, led fight­ers to hijack con­voy vehi­cles, and con­duct­ed kid­nap­pings for ran­som. Tahir was the tar­get of an Aug. 5 oper­a­tion that result­ed in the loss of a CH-47 Chi­nook heli­copter. So far this year, secu­ri­ty forces con­duct­ed more than 40 oper­a­tions in the Sayyid­abad dis­trict, killing 35 insur­gents and detain­ing more than 80 suspects. 

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