Afghan, Coalition Forces Investigate Explosion

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2011 – Afghan and coalition forces are investigating a roadside bomb explosion that killed six Afghan civilians, including two children, today in Kunduz province’s Kunduz district, military officials reported.

Afghan police and coalition troops arrived at the scene immediately to secure the blast site. A coalition bomb disposal team is investigating.

In operations throughout Afghanistan today:

-- Afghan and coalition forces repelled an insurgent attack on their patrol base in Helmand province’s Marja district. Insurgents used rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in the attack. Security forces returned fire, eventually causing the insurgents to retreat.

-- A coalition aircraft dropped ordnance on an insurgent fighting position near Kunar province’s Nari district after insurgents launched an indirect-fire attack on a nearby coalition outpost. Troops requested the air support once they were able to positively identify the insurgents’ location. No details were released about the number of insurgents killed or injured.

-- Security forces found two weapons stockpiles -- one in Wardak province’s Sayyidabad district and the other in Kandahar province’s Panjwai district -- and seized 2,350 rounds of assault rifle ammunition, 150 .50-caliber machine gun rounds, 30 30 mm rounds, seven artillery rounds, two fragmentation charges and two rocket-propelled grenades.

In operations yesterday:

-- An Afghan civilian was killed and another was injured in an insurgent bombing in Uruzgan province’s Chorah district.

-- Coalition troops killed seven insurgents in Kunar province’s Darah-ye Pech district. The patrolling troops came under attack from an unknown number of insurgents. After positively identifying where the attack was coming from, troops returned fire, killing the insurgents.

-- Afghan and coalition forces detained a senior Taliban leader in Nangarhar province’s Chaparhar district. The Taliban leader is an insurgent financier connected to an international drug smuggling network. He also is responsible for smuggling foreign fighters into the area.

-- Coalition forces used a precision airstrike to destroy a building rigged with explosives in Khost province’s Sabari district. Officials said a Haqqani terrorist network leader is responsible for rigging the building and for several other bombing attacks in the area. Local villagers confirmed that the building had not been occupied in five years and was rigged to explode. Troops requested the airstrike to eliminate potential dangers the building posed for security forces and civilians.

-- Security forces found several weapons stockpiles throughout the country. The operations collected 157 assorted mortars and artillery rounds, 60 pounds of explosives, 11 roadside bombs that had been planted, four anti-personnel mines and a missile.