Combined Force Captures Haqqani Network Leader

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 13, 2012 – An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network leader during a March 11 operation in the Sabari district of Afghanistan’s Khost province, military officials reported.

The leader directed attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces in the Bak and Sabari districts, and supplies weapons to insurgents, officials said.

The security force detained three additional suspected insurgents during the operation.

In March 10 Afghanistan operations:

-- An Afghan provincial response team with coalition mentors detained an improvised explosive device manufacturer in the Nerkh district of Wardak province. The man is believed responsible for a roadside bombing attack against Afghan and coalition forces in the Shinwar district of Parwan province. IED components were linked to the suspect and led to Afghan judicial officials issuing a warrant for his arrest.

-- Afghan and coalition forces seized weapons and narcotics and destroyed a production facility in the Achin district of Nangarhar province. During the Afghan-planned and led operation, the security force discovered a compound with narcotic-processing equipment and 110 pounds of opium. The drugs and production material were destroyed on-site, along with a weapons cache of rocket-propelled grenades the security forces discovered.

In March 9 Afghanistan operations:

-- An Afghan provincial response team supported by coalition forces captured a senior Taliban leader in the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province. The leader was responsible for distributing IEDs and directing insurgent attacks against coalition forces and supply convoys.

Officers Describe al Qaeda Prison Rescue Mission

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

May 30, 2007 – Officers from the U.S. Army battalion that freed 41 prisoners from an al Qaeda in Iraq hideout May 27 provided details on the operation yesterday. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were conducting operations in a town south of Baqubah when a local man approached them with information about the prison, Army Lt. Col. Morris Goins, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, told reporters in a teleconference from Iraq's Diyala province.

Goins said he assigned D Company of the unit, commanded by Army Capt. Paul Carlock, to check out the report. As the unit approached, the soldiers encountered 41 Iraqis who had been held by al Qaeda in Iraq, Goins said. "They showed some signs of torture," the colonel said. "We brought them back to an attack position, where we were able to give them some water, some food."

The unit then took the men to a combat outpost, where they received medical attention. The American and Iraqi units killed seven al Qaeda fighters in the operation and detained another 30, Goins said.

Carlock said some of the men, mostly Sunnis, had lash marks on their backs and rope burns on their wrists and ankles. Some had been held as long as four months. He said their main diet was figs and water.

One of the freed prisoners was a 13-year-old boy, Goins said, but most were provincial government workers and local merchants. Some Shiia hostages had been held at the prison, but al Qaeda had killed them all, the colonel added.

Goins and Carlock both said the operation shows that the local people are tired of al Qaeda in their communities. The coalition and Iraqi government forces are trying to drive a wedge between the terrorists and the population.

"We try to every day meet with local Iraqi leaders and then also leaders of the tribes," Carlock said.

This contact, the officers said, helps to widen the division between the insurgents and the local population and allows the forces to develop intelligence sources.

"We have more sources today than we had yesterday and the day before that," Goins said. "So it's a growing and increased basis of intelligence coming in to both the Iraqi security forces and the coalition forces."

Goins said he hopes liberating the prison will have a positive effect on the attitude of the local citizens.

"If I were a local Iraqi and I would see that 41 Iraqi citizens were detained by al Qaeda, coalition forces helped secure their freedom, provided medical attention, were able to get them back to their family, it would show me that the international and the coalition forces are here to assist the Iraqi people and (would) live a peaceful life," he said.

He added that he hopes the 41 people freed in the operation and now back with their families will pass along their experiences to their friends and relatives.

"That will ensure that the Iraqi people understand that the Iraqi security forces as well as coalition forces are here to provide security with their assistance to allow them to have a democratic government and live a peaceful existence as the majority of the international community does," he said.

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