Combined Force in Jowzjan Kills, Captures Insurgents

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition force acting on intelligence information and tips killed several insurgents, including the Taliban’s central appointed leader for Afghanistan’s Jowzjan province, and detained several other suspected insurgents in the province’s Darzab district yesterday, military officials reported.

The targeted leader governed Taliban operations for the province’s Qush Tepah district and was a strategic planner who directed funding for operations and oversaw the planting of roadside bombs.

In other operations yesterday:

-- An Afghan and coalition security force detained several suspected insurgents while searching for a Taliban facilitator in Baghlan province’s Pul-e Khumri district.

-- In Kandahar province’s Dand district, a combined Afghan and coalition force detained several suspected insurgents while searching for a Taliban cell leader responsible for bombing attacks on Afghan and coalition patrols who also was involved in the assassinations of local government employees.

-- Also in Kandahar, an Afghan and coalition force detained three suspected insurgents while searching for a Taliban operative who leads insurgents in the province’s central Maiwand and the Garmabak region.

-- A combined Afghan and coalition force detained several suspected insurgents in Zabul province’s Shah Joy district.

-- In Uruzgan province’s Tarin Kot district, a combined patrol found nine assault rifles, 23 82 mm mortar rounds, 3,250 7.62 mm rounds, three grenades, six rocket-propelled grenades, a bullet proof vest, an RPG launcher, two 107 mm rockets and bomb-making materials.

-- A coalition precision airstrike killed several al-Qaida insurgents, including the suspected al-Qaida provincial leader, in Kunar province’s Dangam district.

-- In Khost province, a combined Afghan and coalition force captured a Haqqani terrorist network facilitator in the Terayzai district.

-- A combined force in Logar province’s Baraki Barak district captured a Taliban leader responsible for acquiring and distributing weapons and supplies to subordinate Taliban fighters.

-- A coalition patrol in Shindad province‘s Herat district found 51 82 mm rounds, a 107 mm rocket, two high-explosive grenades, a 55 mm high-explosive shell, two rockets, six detonators, 31 fuses, a 30 mm shell, a rocket-propelled grenade and a jug filled with homemade explosives.

-- Afghan and coalition forces killed numerous insurgents during an operation in Kapisa province’s Alah Say district after receiving small-arms fire.

-- In Kandahar province’s Panjwai district, combined patrols found two rocket-propelled grenades, two assault rifles, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and eight empty assault-rifle magazines.

-- An Afghan and coalition patrol in Wardak province’s Jaghatu district found an anti-tank mine, eight 82 mm rounds, seven rocket fuses and a jug of homemade explosives.

-- In Khost province’s Nadir Shah Kot district, Afghan and coalition forces found 12 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, an RPG launcher and a rifle round. In the province’s Khost district, a coalition patrol found 11 grenades, an assault rifle, two magazines, a shotgun and 2 pounds of black powder.