Officials Investigate Afghanistan Shooting Incident

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2010 – A gunman in an Afghan Border Police uniform turned his weapon against coalition forces during a training mission in eastern Afghanistan today, killing six International Security Assistance Force servicemembers, military officials reported.

The gunman also was killed, officials said, and a combined Afghan and ISAF team is investigating the incident.

Also today in Afghanistan, two Afghan children were killed and another was wounded in a roadside-bomb device blast in Kandahar province’s Panjwayi district. Afghan soldiers and an ISAF patrol responded to the scene, where ISAF medics treated the wounded child.

ISAF Joint Command officials also provided details on recent operations.

In operations yesterday:

-- Afghan and coalition forces killed four armed insurgents who threatened them in Paktia province’s Zurmat district. People at the scene reported they did not know who the insurgents were and that they had arrived that evening, officials said. The combined security force was seeking a Taliban leader who coordinates the planting of roadside bombs and conducts attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and elements of the local provincial reconstruction team. After questioning people at the scene, the security force detained several suspected insurgents and found a dozen hand grenades, ammunition, bayonets, bomb components and military uniforms.

-- Afghan and coalition forces captured a senior Taliban leader and two of his associates during an intelligence-based operation in Wardak province’s Sayyidabad district. The Taliban leader conducted roadside-bomb and direct-fire attacks along Highway 1 and other public roads in Tangi Valley. The captured leader also is linked tokidnapping operations against Afghan civilians, officials said.

-- A partnered security force acting on intelligence information detained numerous suspected insurgents while searching for a Haqqani terrorist network facilitator who provides weapons and ammunition to multiple insurgent groups in Khost province’s Sabari district.

-- Afghan and coalition forces in Farah province’s Bakwah district detained several suspected insurgents as they targeted a Taliban leader as they were searching for an Iran-based facilitator for foreign fighters and weapons.

-- In Kandahar province’s Panjwai district, a combined force acting on intelligence information detained several suspected insurgents as they targeted an enemy bomb-attack leader. The targeted individual is known to operate in the province’s Spin Boldak district to conduct attacks against Afghan police and coalition forces, and he’s reported to be in the planning stages of suicide-bomb attack operations in addition to being responsible for building vehicle-borne bombs, officials said.

-- ISAF forces found and destroyed 1,653 pounds of homemade explosives in Helmand province’s Marja district while responding to reports of an explosion.

-- ISAF forces killed a Taliban leader during an airstrike in Helmand’s Nad-e Ali district. The targeted Taliban leader planned and coordinated roadside-bomb attacks, and senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan used him as a key conduit of information to lower-level leaders in the district, officials said. Multiple intelligence sources and tips from local Afghans led ISAF forces to the Taliban leader’s location. They tracked him throughout the day as he moved from one location to another conducting what appeared to be meetings with other insurgents. During a stop, he moved alone on foot and walked into an open field. After confirming that no civilians were nearby, ISAF forces conducted the airstrike.

In Nov. 27 operations:

-- Afghan and coalition forces detained several suspected insurgents in Helmand’s Nawah-ye Barakzai district while targeting a man who, according to intelligence reports, worked closely with two Taliban leaders detained in the area Oct. 18 and Nov. 15 and reportedly was to move into the vacated leadership position.

-- Afghan and coalition forces in Paktika’s Sharan district detained two suspected insurgents during an intelligence-driven search for a Taliban weapons facilitator.

In other news from Afghanistan, Afghan and ISAF forces found several caches of weapons, explosives and bomb components Nov. 26 and 27 in southern and western Afghanistan.

In Helmand’s Marja district, a combined patrol found 3,500 pounds of ammonium chloride, a banned fertilizer used in making roadside bombs.

An Afghan National Police patrol in Kandahar province’s Arghadab district found a bomb components cache and detained several suspected insurgents. The cache consisted of 20 containers of homemade explosives, several electrical components, two guns, two ammunition magazines, several gun rounds, a 70 mm mortar shell, a motorbike and a vehicle.

In Farah province’s Qal ah-ye Kah district, an ISAF patrol found two 107 mm Chinese rockets, three Pakistani anti-tank mines, an Italian mine, four 65 mm anti-tank rockets, two 85 mm Bulgarian rockets, 46 Chinese mortar fuses, seven 82 mm Russian mortars, an 82 mm Chinese mortar, four 89 mm U.S. rockets, three 75 mm rockets and a 122 mm Russian rocket.

In Nov. 26 operations:

-- Afghan and coalition forces acting on intelligence information detained several suspected insurgents while searching for a high-ranking Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan senior leader in Kunduz province’s Chahar Darah district. The targeted man facilitates suicide bombers from Pakistan for attacks in the province and acts as a liaison for Taliban in the area, officials said.

-- In Khost’s Tanai district a combined force acting on intelligence information detained numerous suspected insurgents during a search for a senior Haqqani leader responsible for the facilitation of bomb components, weapons and ammunition. The security force found roadside-bomb instruction manuals hidden among Qurans, officials said. They also found automatic weapons, military uniforms and a significant amount of ammunition.

-- Afghan and coalition forces detained a suspected insurgent in Zabul province’s Shah Joy district while searching for a Taliban bombing cell leader whose operations extend from Shah Joy into Ghazni province’s Gelan district.

-- Afghan and coalition forces acting on intelligence information detained a key roadside-bomb facilitator and two suspected insurgents in Kandahar province’s Kandahar district. He is known to import bomb components and fertilizers used in homemade explosives from a network in Chaman, Pakistan, officials said.

-- Acting on intelligence information, Afghan and coalition forces detained a Taliban leader and several suspected insurgents in Helmand’s Nad-e Ali district. He is believed to be a significant supplier of homemade explosives used in roadside-bomb attacks in Nad-e Ali and the neighboring Lashkar Gah district. He also taught Taliban associates how to fabricate and employ roadside bombs.

-- Afghan and coalition security forces killed more than 15 armed insurgents during an operation in Nangarhar province’s Sherzad district. The partnered force was searching for a senior Taliban leader and foreign fighter facilitator who also raises funds for the Taliban and plans attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. Intelligence tips led the force to a remote compound, where they came under immediate machine-gun and small-arms fire by numerous insurgents fleeing the area. The security force responded, killing numerous insurgents. A search of the compound yielded automatic weapons and a suspected insurgent was detained.

-- Insurgents used indirect fire in at least 17 unsuccessful attempts to strike Afghan and coalition forces as a combined security team conducted a day-long, intelligence-driven sweep to clear Taliban cells in Helmand province. Two insurgents were killed and several were detained in an operation to disrupt terrorist efforts in a Taliban-occupied area of the province’s Musa Qalah district. Afghan and coalition forces moved through the terrorist-occupied area to disrupt the insurgents’ command-and-control system and safe-haven activities. The Taliban members began launching rocket-propelled grenades at the security team in the early morning hours, but the attack proved ineffective. No Afghan or coalition forces were injured in the hours-long effort. The team searched more than 70 buildings and found multiple weapons caches.