Insurgent Roadside Bombs Kill Afghan Civilians

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2011 – An Afghan child was killed and 12 other Afghans were wounded in insurgent roadside-bomb attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan today, military officials reported.

In Kandahar province’s Zharay district, Afghan civilians struck a roadside bomb, killing a child and wounding four Afghan civilians, including two other children.

NATO International Security Assistance Force service members responded to assist the wounded, and an 8-year old child was taken to an ISAF medical facility.

In Uruzgan province, eight Afghan civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in Deh Rawud district. Afghan police responded to assist the wounded and look into the incident.

Meanwhile, numerous insurgents were killed or detained by Afghan and ISAF forces in eastern and southern Afghanistan over the past 24 hours:

-- In Laghman province’s Alisheng district, numerous insurgents engaged Afghan and ISAF forces with small-arms fire as they entered Mayl Valley to conduct clearing operations. An air weapons team engaged the enemy position, killing more than 10 insurgents.

-- Two insurgents with machine guns attacked an ISAF combat outpost in Helmand province’s Musa Qalah district. Coalition forces responded with anti-armor missiles, killing one insurgent and driving off the other.

-- In Kandahar province’s Zharay district, a combined Afghan and ISAF patrol stopped a motorcycle and detained two insurgents carrying bomb-making components, including several pressure plates.

Also today, Afghan and ISAF forces found weapons and drugs during separate clearing operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

-- In Kandahar and Helmand provinces, combined patrols found two assault rifles, 14 assault rifle magazines, four 82 mm recoilless rifle rounds, a directional fragmentation charge, nine grenades, five grenade fuses, 15 rocket-propelled grenades, an RPG warhead and 87 nitro-propellant sticks, as well as various bomb-making materials and explosives and about a half ton of hashish.

-- In Helmand’s Now Zad district, an Afghan patrol found six RPGs and two 82 mm mortar rounds.

-- In Kapisa province, an Afghan army patrol in the Mahmud-e Raqi district found a 100 mm anti-tank rocket, two 57 mm rockets, two mortar rounds, four initiators, an assembled roadside bomb, three explosive charges, several 14.7 mm rounds, two full assault-rifle magazines and loose 7.62 mm rounds.

-- An Afghan civilian tip led an ISAF patrol to a roadside bomb planted in Helmand’s Marja district. Combined forces removed it from the area.

In other news, Afghan and coalition forces seeking a former Taliban shadow chief for the Zharay district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province killed an attacker and detained numerous suspected insurgents yesterday.

The Taliban senior leader has operational influence throughout central Kandahar province, including Kandahar City and the province’s Zharay, Dand and Panjwai districts, providing command and strategic guidance over roadside-bomb and suicide-attack operations.

The wanted leader belongs to the Taliban’s Pakistan-based Quetta group and is closely associated with other Taliban leaders in the area, officials said. Recent reporting indicates he had an associate provide him with three suicide bombers for an attack in Zharay district, they added.

Security forces followed leads to a compound in Kandahar’s Dand district and killed an insurgent who attacked a member of the security force before detaining several suspected insurgents.

In Kandahar City, a separate combined force targeting Taliban leaders detained two suspected insurgents.

Meanwhile, ISAF officials confirmed the Taliban district leader for Paktia province was detained during a Jan. 18 combined operation. The Taliban leader was involved in roadside-bomb attacks and had maintained ties with several other Taliban leaders, officials said. Recent reporting indicates he was planning to transfer weapons from a cache for an upcoming attack, they added.