Forces Kill, Capture Insurgents in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2011 — Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents today in a shootout in the Darah-ye Pech dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
Troops opened fire on the insur­gents after watch­ing them maneu­ver near­by with heavy auto­mat­ic machine guns, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

In oper­a­tions through­out Afghanistan yesterday: 

— An airstrike killed five insur­gents after coali­tion troops mon­i­tored sev­er­al armed indi­vid­u­als at a known fight­ing posi­tion for sev­er­al hours in Kunar province’s Ghazi dis­trict. After the attack, troops inves­ti­gat­ed the scene and found sev­er­al auto­mat­ic weapons and a mor­tar tube. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban fight­er and an Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan ter­ror­ist orga­ni­za­tion safe haven in Bagh­lan province’s Burkah district. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents, while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban weapons expert who spe­cial­izes in build­ing sui­cide vests in Kan­da­har province’s Zhari district.

— Based on tips from local res­i­dents, forces detained three sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing a Tal­iban logis­ti­cian and weapons traf­fick­er, with­out inci­dent in Zab­ul province’s Shamulzai district. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents, while tar­get­ing a Hezb‑e Isla­mi Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist and weapons traf­fick­er in Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict. The ter­ror­ist sup­plies explo­sive devices and sep­a­rate com­po­nents to local ene­my fighters. 

— Dur­ing a rou­tine traf­fic stop in Ghazni province’s Gelan dis­trict, forces detained a Jaha­di orga­ni­za­tion ter­ror­ist who plants road­side bombs. The ter­ror­ist report­ed­ly is linked to sev­er­al recent attacks on a near­by coali­tion base. 

In March 12 operations: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­er­al insur­gents and detained numer­ous oth­ers dur­ing a gun bat­tle in Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict. The com­bined patrol was search­ing a known insur­gent com­pound and engaged the group of ene­my fight­ers with small-arms fire after they were fired upon. 

— Coali­tion troops killed sev­er­al ene­my fight­ers in Hel­mand province’s Kaja­ki dis­trict after their foot patrol was fired upon. Troops used ground forces, close-air sup­port and artillery fire to resist the ene­my fighters. 

— Forces found sev­er­al weapons stock­piles and drugs through­out Afghanistan. Oper­a­tions result­ed in seizure of 900 assault rifle rounds, 600 large-cal­iber auto­mat­ic machine gun rounds, 200 pounds of hashish, 25 pres­sure plates, 24 var­i­ous mor­tars and rock­ets, 21 hand grenades, 12 explo­sive devices, nine rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, five rock­et-pro­pelled grenade boost­ers, two pis­tols, an anti-tank mine and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing materials. 

In March 11 operations: 

— Forces killed two insur­gents who dis­played hos­tile intent toward them dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of a Hezb‑E Isla­mi Khalis ter­ror­ist leader in Nan­ga­har province’s Jalal­bad dis­trict. The ter­ror­ist leader is linked to sev­er­al recent bomb­ing attacks on secu­ri­ty forces. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured three sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing a Haqqani net­work ter­ror­ist leader and a Haqqani fight­er, in Khost province’s Shamul dis­trict. The Haqqani leader is respon­si­ble for hous­ing and arm­ing for­eign fight­ers, while the oth­er Haqqani mem­ber is linked to sev­er­al recent attacks on secu­ri­ty forces. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a sus­pect­ed insur­gent, while search­ing for an Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan leader respon­si­ble for plan­ning attacks with Tal­iban fight­ers against secu­ri­ty forces in Bagh­lan province’s Burkah district. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces found sev­er­al weapons caches through­out Afghanistan. Troops dis­cov­ered 1,716 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate — a banned fer­til­iz­er used in road­side bombs — 120 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, 51 feet of det­o­na­tion cord, four war­heads, four radio fre­quen­cy jam­ming devices, three shot­gun rounds, a hand grenade and assort­ed bomb-mak­ing materials. 

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

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