ISAF Condemns Taliban Bomb Attack in Helmand Province

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2012 – The International Security Assistance Force today condemned yesterday’s Taliban roadside-bomb attack that killed seven innocent civilians in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, military officials reported.

According to an Afghan spokesman, a roadside bomb was detonated by remote control in the Musulmanai area of the province’s Musa Qala district at about 10 a.m. yesterday, killing seven Afghan civilians including five children and a woman.

On May 3, the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive, code-named, Al-Farouq. During their offensive, the Taliban said their top priority would be safeguarding the lives and wealth of civilians, but their actions yesterday proved the opposite, ISAF officials said.

The Taliban’s use of an improvised explosive device yesterday in this latest act of cowardice, adds to the 449 causalities they have been responsible for this year alone, ISAF officials said. The Afghan people, officials said, must continue to reject the Taliban’s barbarism: the killing of Afghanistan’s children and other innocent Afghans, the closing of schools, and the abuse of women.

ISAF asks the Afghan people to continue to support the legitimate government of Afghanistan and their Afghan National Security Forces in their stance against the daily atrocities of the Taliban, officials said.

Also today, an Afghan and coalition security force detained multiple suspected insurgents during an operation to capture a Taliban facilitator in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. The facilitator provides weapons, ammunition and roadside bomb-making materials to insurgents. He also transports funds for senior Taliban leaders operating in central Helmand province.

In other Afghanistan operations today:

-- An Afghan-led, coalition-supported force detained multiple suspected insurgents during a search for a Taliban facilitator in the Tarnek wa Jaldak district of Zabul province. The facilitator supplies weapons, ammunition, and equipment to insurgents for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. He also coordinates the movement of suicide bombers for attacks within the Daman district.

-- A combined force detained two suspected insurgents during a search for a Haqqani leader in the Sarobi district of Paktika province. The leader organizes indirect-fire attacks and other operations against Afghan and coalition forces. He is also a suspect in the planning of an upcoming suicide bombing attack in the area.

In Afghanistan operations yesterday:

-- Afghan soldiers and police killed at least five insurgents who were using suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and small arms to attack the Yahya Khel district capital in Paktika province. Two insurgent’s suicide vests detonated, killing two Afghan security force personnel. One Afghan civilian was also killed and two Afghan security force members were wounded during the attack.

-- Afghan police discovered 500 shotguns inside a dump truck in the Behsud District of Nangarhar province. The police detained three individuals and confiscated the weapons and the truck.

-- Afghan soldiers and coalition forces discovered two weapons caches in a mosque and the surrounding area in Ghazni province’s Qarah Bagh district. The caches contained material used to make IEDs, mines, small arms and rocket-propelled grenade launcher rounds.

In May 8 Afghanistan operations:

-- A combined force killed several insurgents and seized 330 pounds of morphine base, more than 400 pounds of opium, 880 pounds of poppy seeds, more than 2,000 pounds of drug-processing materials, several IED-making materials and small-arms weapons during a search for suspected narcotics-processing facilities in the Baghran district of Helmand province. The security force destroyed the drug-related materials and weapons at the scene.