Monday, April 13, 2009

Twelve Militants Killed, Suicide Bomber Thwarted in Afghanistan

American Forces Press Service

April 13, 2009 - Twelve militants were killed and a suicide bomber was stopped in Afghanistan during weekend operations. On April 11, Afghan and coalition forces conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol in the Shinkay district of Afghanistan's Zabol province killed four armed militants who attacked them using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. The forces responded with smallarms and heavy-weapons fire and close-air support, killing the militants.

An Afghan man accidentally flipped his vehicle and suffered minor injuries as he fled the area to escape the militants' gunfire.

In the Sabari district of Khowst province, Afghan National Army commandos on a reconnaissance patrol discovered a vehicle by the side of the road that had been prepared for use as a car bomb. Wires protruding from the car's dashboard led to a battery pack and a switch attached to the gear shift. The back of the vehicle had been hollowed out.

The elite Afghan soldiers disabled the car bomb, and it was destroyed in place.

During other April 11 operations in Afghanistan, eight militants were killed in unrelated incidents in Wardak and Logar provinces.

In Wardak's Sayed Abad district, militants attacked a Task Force Spartan patrol with small-arms fire and RPGs. Seven of the attackers were killed with a combination of indirect fire from a local military base and coalition close-air support.

A separate incident in Logar's Kherwar district left another attacker dead after a group of militants fired at a combined Task Force Spartan and Afghan unit on patrol in the area.

(Compiled from U.S. Forces Afghanistan and Combined Joint Task Force 101 news releases.)

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