Officials Condemn Insurgent Attack on Kabul Hotel

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2011 — Afghanistan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai, the country’s Min­istry of the Inte­ri­or, and the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force joint­ly con­demned yesterday’s insur­gent attack on the Inter­con­ti­nen­tal Hotel in Kab­ul, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

ISAF also com­mend­ed the rapid response by Afghan secu­ri­ty forces that cleared the build­ing and secured the sit­u­a­tion, offi­cials said. 

“We join Pres­i­dent Karzai in con­demn­ing this cow­ard­ly attack on Afghan civil­ians,” said Navy Rear Adm. Vic Beck, ISAF direc­tor of pub­lic affairs. “Even though insur­gents have declared their inten­tion to avoid civil­ian casu­al­ties, this attack put Afghan lives at risk and demon­strates their com­plete dis­re­gard for the Afghan people.” 

Offi­cials said Afghan police and secu­ri­ty forces respond­ed quick­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly to clear the area, demon­strat­ing their abil­i­ty to defeat the insur­gents and pro­tect Afghans in jeop­ardy. Ini­tial Afghan reports indi­cate as many as 10 peo­ple were killed and eight wound­ed dur­ing the sui­cide attacks. 

“This attack will do noth­ing to pre­vent the secu­ri­ty tran­si­tion process from mov­ing for­ward,” Beck said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the fam­i­lies of the dead and injured.” 

In oth­er Afghanistan news yesterday: 

— In Kun­duz province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban orga­niz­er in the Archi dis­trict. The orga­niz­er sup­ports a road­side bomb and sui­cide attack net­work with­in Archi, and is direct­ly involved with secur­ing weapons and ammu­ni­tion, coor­di­nat­ing per­son­nel move­ments and facil­i­tat­ing the col­lec­tion of ille­gal taxes. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Tal­iban financier and one of his asso­ciates in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The financier pro­vid­ed fund­ing for road­side bomb oper­a­tions and direct attacks, tar­get­ing Afghan and coali­tion forces. 

— In the Zharay dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined secu­ri­ty force cap­tured sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— In the Sha­ran dis­trict of Pak­ti­ka province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force killed sev­er­al insur­gents. The force was engaged by insur­gents with small-arms fire. After pos­i­tive­ly iden­ti­fy­ing the insurgent’s posi­tion, the force returned fire, killing sev­er­al insur­gents. Ini­tial reports indi­cate no civil­ians were harmed dur­ing the operation. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Ghazni dis­trict of Ghazni province. The Afghan-led force was search­ing for a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor who pro­cures weapons for future attacks in the province. 

— In Khost province, a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Khost dis­trict. The facil­i­ta­tor pro­vid­ed sup­plies, weapons, sui­cide vests and road­side bombs from Pak­istan to senior Haqqani leaders. 

In June 27 Afghanistan operations: 

— Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed and one was wound­ed dur­ing a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion oper­a­tion con­duct­ed in the Shah Wali Kot dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The injured insur­gent was treat­ed at the scene by coali­tion medics before being tak­en to a med­ical facil­i­ty for fur­ther treat­ment. The com­bined force con­fis­cat­ed a light machine gun and 400 7.62 mm rounds. 

In June 26 Afghanistan operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Kan­da­har dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The cache con­sist­ed of one AK-47 rifle, two full AK-47 mag­a­zines, one 80 mm mor­tar round, 75 7.62 mm rounds, 64 pounds of explo­sives, ten pres­sure plates, one mine, one pis­tol, some home­made bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, one set of binoc­u­lars and a radio. Eight insur­gents were detained and the weapons were seized by secu­ri­ty forces. 

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

Team GlobDef

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