Operations, Enemy Attacks on Civilians Continue in Afghanistan

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force and ISAF Joint Command News Releases

Aug. 10, 2010 - As military operations continue across Afghanistan, enemy actions continue to kill or injure Afghan civilians, military officials reported.

Officials provided details of several recent operations.

In Farah province:

-- Afghan and coalition forces located, seized and destroyed four 122 mm artillery shells in the Bala Boluk district yesterday.

In Helmand province:

-- An Afghan and coalition security force detained two suspected Taliban insurgents in the Marja district yesterday while in pursuit of a Taliban commander who is responsible for ordering small-arms and bombing attacks against Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition security forces.

–In Kandahar province:

-- An Afghan and coalition security force detained two suspected Taliban insurgents in the province's Kandahar district yesterday while in pursuit of a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and bombing attacks against civilians and Afghan and coalition security forces. The commander also is believed to be involved in the acquisition of weapons and munitions.

-- An Afghan and coalition security force killed one insurgent and detained several suspected Taliban insurgents in the Zharay district last night while in pursuit of the Taliban district commander for Arghandab, who leads violent kidnapping and assassination operations that have involved explosives. As the assault force departed the area, their aircraft took fire from insurgents on the ground. The air weapons team returned fire, killing one insurgent.

In Paktia province:

-- International Security Assistance Force officials confirmed the capture of a Taliban suicide-bomber facilitator during an Afghan-led operation Aug. 7. The facilitator is believed to have been responsible for the movement of weapons and ammunition. The assault force also detained several additional suspected insurgents for further questioning.

In Paktika province:

-- An Afghan and coalition security force detained two suspected Taliban insurgents in the Mota Khan district yesterday, including a Taliban district-level facilitator for Zurmat and Gardez districts of neighboring Paktia province. The facilitator led an intelligence and early warning network in southern Paktia and was involved in ambush operations, officials said.

-- Coalition forces repelled three separate insurgent attacks in the province yesterday. In one attack, Afghan and coalition forces defended their forward operating base against insurgent small-arms and mortar fire, killing several insurgents. In two other attacks, insurgent forces fired mortars at the forward operating bases. No coalition forces were hurt in the attacks.

In other news from Afghanistan, the provincial reconstruction team in Panjshir province is assisting the local Afghan government in response to flooding that started last week in the Abdullah Khel valley, where some roads are impassable and some farm land is flooded along the river.

The team is working closely with Dara district Gov. Malam Sorab and Afghan security forces to repair infrastructure damaged during the flooding, and is providing heavy equipment for road repair.

Meanwhile, enemy actions continue to kill or injure Afghan civilians and target government leaders.

Eight Afghan civilians, including six children, were wounded during insurgent attacks on a coalition outpost and the Kandahar governor's palace in the past two days.

Four Afghan civilians were injured, including two children, when insurgents attacked a coalition outpost yesterday with small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire in the Watahpur district of Kunar province. Four more Afghan children were wounded when insurgents attacked the Kandahar governor's palace with a rocket-propelled grenade Aug. 8.

A civilian was killed by a roadside bomb in the Kandahar district of Kandahar province yesterday. In a separate incident yesterday, a child was wounded in a bomb blast in Kandahar's Panjwai district. Coalition forces evacuated the child to a coalition hospital.

In Helmand on Aug. 8, an insurgent bomb killed two civilians and injured five others in the Nahr-e Saraj district, where an Afghan-led combined security patrol was being conducted. Members of a special operations medical team treated the injured at the scene and had them airlifted to a nearby medical facility for further treatment.

A large number of insurgents launched several attacks on the Afghan-led patrol using small-arms and sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades and 38 mm grenades throughout the engagement, officials said. The partnered force returned fire, killing more than 10 insurgents. The combined force also found and destroyed several weapons and explosive caches.

In Badghis province's Qadis district yesterday, a pregnant widow reportedly was whipped 200 times and shot in public by a Taliban commander for alleged adultery, officials said.