Coalition, Afghan Forces Detain Numerous Insurgent Leaders

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2010 – Coalition and Afghan forces have captured multiple Taliban leaders involved in enemy operations in Afghanistan in recent days, military officials reported.

Afghan and International Security Assistance Force security forces captured a Taliban leader who is believed to be responsible for supplying weapons and coordinating insurgent attacks, along with three of his associates, during an intelligence-driven overnight operation in Zabul province’s Shah Joy district.

As the partnered force approached the targeted compound, they saw a bag thrown from a window and found it contained bomb-making materials.

Meanwhile, ISAF officials confirmed the capture during a Nov. 7 overnight operation of a senior Taliban leader who led attacks in Kandahar province’s Dand and Panjwai districts. An associate also was detained.

In other operations:

-- In an intelligence-driven operation in Kandahar province last night, a combined force captured a key Taliban leader believed to responsible for insurgent networks in Kandahar City and the province’s Panjwai district. He is the 15th senior Taliban leader captured in the province in the last month and is linked to multiple bombings in Kandahar City, officials said.

-- A combined force in Farah province detained several suspected insurgents yesterday while targeting the Taliban leader for the Bala Boluk district, who reportedly has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against civilians and against Afghan and coalition forces. Intelligence reports led the partnered force to a compound in the Bakwah district, where the force detained the suspects and found an automatic weapon.

-- In Paktika province’s Orgun district last night, a partnered force acting on intelligence information detained a suspected insurgent last night while searching for a Haqqani terrorist network leader who has coordinated attacks against the Salerno and Chapman forward operating bases in Khost province.

-- Also last night, a combined force in Khost province found machine-gun ammunition and detained several people for questioning while looking for a Haqqani leader known for coordinating suicide-vest and vehicle-borne bomb attacks in the Sabari district.

-- In Logar province last night, a partnered force detained a suspected insurgent while looking for a senior Taliban leader operating in the Baraki Barak and Charkh districts.

-- Acting on intelligence information and tips from local residents, a combined force in Helmand province arrested a wanted senior Taliban leader yesterday. The suspect reportedly led about 300 fighters in the area and was appointed as leader of all Taliban forces in and around Marja. The force entered the targeted compound and detained at least 10 suspected insurgents without incident, but then became aware of four armed insurgents setting up an ambush to attack them as they departed. The force called in an airstrike that killed all four.

-- In Logar province’s Pul-e Alam district yesterday, a partnered force acting on intelligence reports and local residents’ tips found 220 pounds of homemade explosives, seven 82 mm mortar rounds electrically primed to explode, five Claymore mines wired to explode, a 60 mm mortar round and an anti-tank mine.

-- A Nov. 7 truck search by a coalition patrol in Helmand’s Reg-e Khan Neshin district yielded more than 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate. The banned fertilizer is used in making roadside bombs. The three Afghan civilians in the truck were detained.

-- Multiple intelligence sources led to the arrest yesterday of a suspected weapons trafficker at Kabul International Airport. Afghan forces discovered the suspect had boarded an airplane which had taken off and was destined for Saudi Arabia. Authorities ordered it back to the airport, and upon its arrival, Afghan security forces boarded the plane. The suspect identified himself and was arrested without incident. As part of the Haqqani network, he was wanted for supplying weapons and ammunition used in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. He also was known to have participated in numerous bombing attacks. Three other suspects traveling with the wanted man were detained, one of whom was wanted on an Afghan government warrant.

In other news from Afghanistan, ISAF officials said that despite senior Taliban leadership claims of protecting civilians, insurgent fighters were responsible for more than 100 Afghan civilian deaths and more than 200 civilian injuries last month.

“The insurgency continues to exhibit striking hypocrisy between their stated objective to protect civilian lives and their actions throughout Afghanistan,” said Navy Rear Adm. Vic Beck, an ISAF spokesman. “Their message simply does not match the reality that every day, insurgents are deliberately killing, injuring and intimidating Afghan civilians.”

Recent incidents of insurgent violence against Afghan civilians include:

-- Insurgents executed a truck driver Oct. 1 after he left an ISAF combat outpost in Kunar province’s Darah-ye Pech district.

-- A series of explosions near an Afghan police checkpoint resulted in eight Afghan children killed and 23 Afghan civilians injured Oct. 5 in Kandahar province’s Kandahar district. Ten of the injured civilians were children.

-- Two religious leaders in Kandar province were assassinated in mosques. A member of the Ulema religious council was killed Oct. 4, and a member of the Kandahar religious council was killed Oct. 10.

-- Ten civilians were killed and 10 others were injured Oct. 19 in Nimruz province’s Khash Rod district when they inadvertently detonated an insurgent-planted roadside bomb.