Karzai, ISAF Condemn Attacks on British Compound

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2011 — Afghan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai and the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­demned today’s insur­gent bomb attacks against the British Coun­cil com­pound in the Afghan cap­i­tal of Kab­ul, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Ini­tial reports indi­cate a com­bi­na­tion of vehi­cle-borne and per­son­al-borne bombs were detonated. 

The attacks occurred as Afghans were observ­ing the 92nd anniver­sary of their inde­pen­dence from Great Britain. 

“This despi­ca­ble act of mur­der and destruc­tion today, on this day of Afghan Inde­pen­dence, is yet anoth­er indi­ca­tion the insur­gents have noth­ing but con­tempt for the Afghan peo­ple,” said Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, com­man­der of ISAF. “We will con­tin­ue to sup­port our Afghan coun­ter­parts to destroy the net­works behind this attack, and hold the per­pe­tra­tors account­able for their actions.” 

ISAF troops are pro­vid­ing assis­tance to the Afghan-led response fol­low­ing the attacks. The attack began at about 6 a.m., with two explo­sions in Kabul’s Kart-e-Par­wan sec­tion, accord­ing to ini­tial reports. 

In Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force killed mul­ti­ple insur­gents and detained a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor and an asso­ciate dur­ing a fire­fight in the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The facil­i­ta­tor was respon­si­ble for deliv­er­ing lethal aid to Tal­iban insur­gents. Two insur­gents wound­ed in the fight were trans­port­ed to a med­ical facil­i­ty for treatment. 

— A com­bined force detained two sus­pects dur­ing a secu­ri­ty search in the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The tar­get of the oper­a­tion was a Tal­iban leader who con­ducts mor­tar and oth­er attacks in the Gereshk area. 

— A com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pects dur­ing a search for a Haqqani ter­ror­ist net­work leader in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tia province. The leader pro­vides intel­li­gence to oth­er insur­gents, coor­di­nates attacks, and facil­i­tates Haqqani oper­a­tions in the district. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed two insur­gents and detained two sus­pects dur­ing sev­er­al oper­a­tions con­duct­ed in Region­al Com­mand East. Mean­while, Tal­iban actions result­ed in three civil­ian casu­al­ties in the Gardez dis­trict of Pak­tia province. Dur­ing an oper­a­tion in Nan­ga­har, Afghan police and coali­tion forces seized 5,000 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate – a banned fer­til­iz­er used in home­made explo­sives — and detained six insurgents. 

In Aug. 17 operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol killed sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Nerkh dis­trict of War­dak province. The insur­gents were killed after they engaged the patrol with small-arms fire. The patrol seized and destroyed some ene­my small-arms ammunition. 

— Sev­er­al sus­pects were detained by a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing an insur­gent leader in the Kab­ul dis­trict of Kab­ul province. 

— In the Pur Chaman dis­trict of Farah province, a com­bined patrol detained sev­er­al sus­pects dur­ing an oper­a­tion tar­get­ing a Tal­iban IED facil­i­ta­tor. The facil­i­ta­tor coor­di­nates the move­ment of bombs to insur­gents who car­ry out attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces in Farah and Nim­roz provinces. 

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

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