Combined Security Forces Kill, Capture Insurgents

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force killed numerous insurgents and detained five others after they were attacked in Paktika province’s Omnah district yesterday.

The Afghan-led force was attacked several times by armed insurgents while searching a compound for a Haqqani Network leader. The force called in air support to suppress enemy fire.

In other operations in Afghanistan yesterday:

--In another attack by armed insurgents, a combined force killed two insurgents and detained another while searching for a Taliban leader in the Kunduz province’s Archi district. The leader organizes roadside and suicide bombings in the district. A subsequent combined force airstrike ensued, but it is unknown whether or not the Taliban leader was among those killed.

--Combined forces detained several suspected insurgents during a night-time security operation in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province while targeting a Taliban leader responsible for attacks and moving materials for insurgents throughout the Panjwa’i and Spin Boldak districts and central Kandahar province.

--Combined forces captured a Taliban organizer who coordinates homemade explosives, narcotics shipments and financial movements throughout Helmand province’s Sangin district.

--Combined forces captured a Taliban organizer and detained several insurgents in Tarnek wa Jaldak district, Zabul province. The organizer, who led eight fighters and was responsible for roadside bomb attacks along Highway 1, was taken from his compound.

--Combined forces detained several suspected insurgents in the Sabari district, Khost province, while searching for a Haqqani network leader believed responsible for indirect fire and roadside bomb attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces.

--Also in Khost, an Afghan-led security force detained two suspected insurgents in the Musa Khel district while searching for a Haqqani Network organizer responsible for equipment and supply movements to Haqqani senior leadership.

--In Logar province, a combined coalition security force captured a Hezb-E Islami Gulbuddin leader in the Baraki Barak district, following recent reports on his whereabouts.

The leader was responsible for attacks targeting Afghan officials and supporting extensive weapons network attacks across Logar, Wardak and northward into Kabul.

--In a separate security operation in Wardak province’s Sayyidabad district, the combined force detained a suspected insurgent during a clearing operation to disrupt a Taliban safe haven in the district. Several insurgent leaders have been connected to the area.

In operations June 12:

--A second homemade explosives lab was discovered by a coalition force patrol in Musa Khela village, Sayyidabad district, Wardak province. After an improvised explosive device strike, two homemade explosives labs were discovered while the force waited for its damaged vehicle to be moved to a safe location.

The first lab was housed in an Islamic school and contained 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer used to make IEDs, and 15 jugs of diesel fuel. The second lab had 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate and 200 to 300 gallons of diesel fuel. In mid-April, 600 pounds of ammonium nitrate were recovered from that area. The ammonium nitrate was destroyed.

In other ISAF news throughout Afghanistan:

--Combined forces detained a suspected weapons organizer in Lashkar Gah district. He is suspected of moving weapons, explosives and narcotics throughout Helmand.

--A coalition force patrol in Garm Ser district, Helmand province, destroyed a drug and chemicals cache comprising 1,135 pounds of wet opium, 419 pounds of dry opium and 198 pounds of chemicals used to make narcotics.

--In Zharay district, Kandahar province, a combined Afghan and coalition force discovered a drugs cache with 882 pounds of hashish.

--A combined force found a weapons cache with 13 rolls of detonation cord, 36 mines, three radios, three ICOM antennas and three vehicle license plates during a security operation in Maiwand district, Kandahar province.

--A suspected insurgent leader was detained in Lashkar Gah district, Helmand province, earlier this month by combined forces, suspected of moving explosives and munitions throughout Helmand and planning suicide attacks against Afghan security forces and the ISAF. The suspected insurgent’s vehicle tested positive for recently carried explosives.