Combined Force Kills 4 Insurgents

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 19, 2012 – An Afghan and coalition security force killed four insurgents March 17 during a search for an insurgent leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the Shirin Tagab district of Afghanistan’s Faryab province, military officials reported.

The leader, officials said, plans and conducts attacks against coalition troops throughout northern Afghanistan and is suspected of plotting an attack against a senior Afghan official.

Afghan troops called for the occupants of the building where the insurgents were suspected to be hiding to come out. Women and children came out of the building, followed by a man who fired on the security force from behind the women and children. Two other insurgents fired at the security force, one from inside the building and the other from a nearby tent. The security force returned fire, killing all three, and killed one additional insurgent, wounded another and detained several suspects.

An Afghan woman was wounded during the exchange. A coalition helicopter flew her and her husband to a medical facility, where she was listed in stable condition.

In other March 17 Afghanistan operations:

 -- A combined force detained a suspect while searching in the Kandahar district of Kandahar province for a Taliban leader who planned and conducted attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the province’s Dand district. He also provided insurgents with weapons and ammunition.

-- A combined force captured a Haqqani network leader in the Pul-e Alam district of Logar province. The leader targeted Afghan and coalition security forces with attacks and conducted an ambush against an Afghan fuel convoy Jan. 25 that wounded an Afghan soldier.

-- In the Charparhar district of Nangarhar province, a combined force detained multiple suspects, destroyed a weapons and ammunition cache, and seized illegal drugs while searching for a Taliban leader. The leader directs insurgent operations around Jalalabad City, and is suspected in a Feb. 27 bombing attack at Jalalabad airfield. He also is suspected in this week’s attack that destroyed the all-girl Shoulana School in Charparhar district.

-- A combined force captured a Taliban facilitator, detained two other suspects and seized weapons, ammunition and bomb-making materials in the Ahmadabad district of Paktia province. The Taliban leader provided weapons, ammunition, and bomb-making materials to insurgents.

In other news, a combined force captured a Taliban leader March 16 in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. The leader directed an insurgent cell that conducted roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.