Senior Leaders Condemn Insurgent Suicide Attacks

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2011 — WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2011 � Afghan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai and senior U.S. mil­i­tary and diplo­mat­ic lead­ers in Afghanistan joint­ly con­demned today’s ter­ror­ist attacks in Kab­ul and Mazar-e-Sharif that report­ed­ly killed and wound­ed dozens of inno­cent Afghan civil­ians observ­ing the Ashu­ra reli­gious fes­ti­val, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

“An attack against Ashu­ra pil­grims on one of the holi­est of days in the Islam­ic cal­en­dar is an attack against Islam itself, and we denounce and con­demn these atroc­i­ties in the strongest of terms,” said Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, com­man­der of the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force. “Our prayers and deep­est sym­pa­thies are with the fam­i­lies and loved ones of those inno­cent civil­ians killed or injured in today’s hor­rif­ic attacks.”

NATO’s senior civil­ian rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Afghanistan, Ambas­sador Simon Gass, said, “The attacks today in Afghanistan, on such an impor­tant reli­gious day, are hor­ri­fy­ing and to be con­demned in the strongest pos­si­ble terms.

“That men, women and chil­dren are killed and injured on Ashu­ra is par­tic­u­lar­ly trag­ic,” Gass con­tin­ued. “Our prayers and con­do­lences are with them all and their fam­i­ly and friends.”

“Just a few days ago,” Allen said, “20 schol­ars from pres­ti­gious Islam­ic reli­gious cen­ters around the world con­demned vio­lence under the name of Islam in Afghanistan and oth­er countries.

“This insur­gency, which wraps itself in a false veil of Islam, must know that killing inno­cent pil­grims will spell their own demise,” the gen­er­al said. “Once again, I call on Mul­lah Omar to con­demn this grotesque act of terrorism.”

In Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday: 

— A Haqqani net­work leader respon­si­ble for a recent car bomb attack was cap­tured by a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force in the Pul‑e ‘Alam dis­trict of Log­ar province.

The leader was respon­si­ble for the Dec. 2 car bomb attack in the Muham­mad Aghah dis­trict, which killed a civil­ian and wound­ed nine oth­ers. One sus­pect­ed insur­gent also was detained.

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and a sus­pect­ed insur­gent in the Dehda­di dis­trict of Balkh province. The leader con­duct­ed attacks against Afghan forces.

— A Tal­iban leader was cap­tured by a com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force in the Nawah-ye Barakzai dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The leader man­u­fac­tured road­side bombs.

— A com­bined force cap­tured a Tal­iban insur­gent and detained sev­er­al sus­pects in the Qalat dis­trict of Zab­ul province.

— In the Gho­rak dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pects dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor who dis­trib­utes nar­cotics and road­side bomb-mak­ing materials.

— A com­bined force seized bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader in the Khogyani dis­trict of Ghazni province. The leader directs insur­gent oper­a­tions in the dis­trict. In Dec. 4 Afghanistan operations:

— A com­bined force con­fis­cat­ed a weapons cache con­tain­ing 31 pres­sure plates, 15 30mm rounds, nine recoil­less rifle rounds, 15 pounds of explo­sives and elec­tron­ic det­o­na­tion devices in Helmand’s Kaja­ki district.

— In Helmand’s Musa Qal’ ah dis­trict, a com­bined force seized a weapons cache con­tain­ing 14 mines and one 105 mm cas­ing with nine pounds of explo­sive mate­r­i­al and met­al fragments. 

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

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