Forces Capture Taliban Commanders in Afghanistan

American Forces Press Service

Dec. 29, 2009 - Afghan and international security forces captured some Taliban commanders and other suspected militants and seized weapons yesterday in Kandahar and Khowst, Afghanistan, military officials reported. The forces captured a Taliban commander believed to be responsible for homemade bomb attacks during a series of raids in Kandahar. They also detained three other suspects.

Also in Kandahar, a combined force captured another Taliban commander and a small group of militants believed to be responsible for supplying weapons to insurgents.

In Khowst, a combined force detained suspected militants while searching for a Haqqani terrorist network commander.

No Afghan civilians were harmed and no shots were fired in these operations.

Yesterday in southern Afghanistan, International Security Assistance Force members seized about 1,200 pounds of opium after two people in a car stopped and fled from a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan. The opium was destroyed.

Also in the south, Afghan National Army forces discovered a weapons cache consisting of seven rocket-propelled grenades, two grenades and 800 rounds of ammunition. Forces also found a cache containing two AK-47 rifles and three magazines.

In the east, Afghan national security forces discovered a backpack with half a liter of diesel fuel, a small propane tank and several feet of timed fuse, wire coils, 10 blasting caps, five hand grenades and three bags of ammonium nitrate.

(From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command news release.)