U.S. Airstrike Kills Terrorists in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2011 — A U.S. mil­i­tary airstrike yes­ter­day killed a Haqan­ni ter­ror­ist net­work leader and two oth­er ter­ror­ists in the Ter­ayzai dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
Forces launched the pre­ci­sion airstrike after ground troops observed and report­ed that sev­er­al insur­gents were plant­i­ng road­side bombs. A fol­low-on ele­ment con­firmed the Haqan­ni ter­ror­ist leader’s death. He report­ed­ly is respon­si­ble for build­ing and traf­fick­ing home­made bombs.

In oth­er news yes­ter­day through­out Afghanistan: 

— Secu­ri­ty forces killed four armed insur­gents while tar­get­ing a Tal­iban bomb mak­er in Hel­mand province’s Nawah-ye Barakzai district. 

— Forces killed two ene­my fight­ers dur­ing a gun bat­tle in Hel­mand province’s San­gin dis­trict after a group of insur­gents ambushed the troops with small-arms fire. 

— Act­ing on tips from local res­i­dents, Afghan and coali­tion troops detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing two Tal­iban bomb traf­fick­ers, in Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict. Troops searched and cleared more than 30 build­ings in the area, which served as an insur­gent stag­ing area for attacks, a weapons safe house and a sup­ply line. 

— Forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for two Tal­iban lead­ers in Hel­mand province’s Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict. The tar­get­ed lead­ers oper­ate out of near­by vil­lages, where one leads a group of at least 50 ene­my fight­ers and the oth­er builds and traf­fics explo­sive devices. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained numer­ous sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor believed to be respon­si­ble for train­ing ene­my fight­ers in Kan­da­har province’s Kan­da­har City. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban leader and sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Ghazni province’s Gelan dis­trict. The Tal­iban leader report­ed­ly is respon­si­ble for launch­ing attacks on secu­ri­ty forces along High­way 1 as well as indi­rect-fire attacks in the area. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban leader believed to be respon­si­ble for bomb­ing attacks against troops in War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad district. 

— Forces cap­tured four sus­pect­ed insur­gents, includ­ing two Hezb‑e Islam­ic Gul­bud­din ter­ror­ist lead­ers, in east­ern Afghanistan. Troops detained one leader, who is believed to be the group’s media chief with links to Islam­ic move­ment of Uzbek­istan offi­cials and oth­er insur­gents through­out Afghanistan and Pak­istan, in Par­wan province’s Charikar dis­trict. A com­bined patrol found the oth­er ter­ror­ist leader Khost province’s Sabari dis­trict, where he com­mand­ed 50 ene­my fight­ers in attacks on local secu­ri­ty forces. 

— Secu­ri­ty forces found sev­er­al oth­er weapons stock­piles through­out Afghanistan. The oper­a­tions result­ed in seizure of more than 5,100 assault rifle rounds, 1,300 sniper rifle rounds, 700 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, two assault rifles, two hand grenades and var­i­ous bomb-mak­ing materials. 

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

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