DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghan-Led Combined Force Captures Taliban Leader
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 26, 2012: An Afghan-led and coalition-supported security force captured a Taliban leader during an operation in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province today, military officials reported.
The leader coordinated roadside bomb and ambush attacks against Afghan forces along Route 1 in Helmand province, officials said.
The security force also seized 15 pounds of opium and detained an additional suspected insurgent.
In other Afghanistan operations today:
-- A combined patrol seized about 500 pounds of marijuana and about 45 pounds of marijuana seeds in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province.
-- In the Zharay district of Kandahar province, a combined force seized 300 pounds of marijuana and detained several suspects while searching for a Taliban facilitator who plans attacks against coalition forces and moves weapons and ammunition throughout Kandahar.
-- A combined force captured a Taliban leader and detained another suspect in the Sayyidabad district of Wardak province. The leader planned assassinations and direct-fire attacks against Afghan government officials.
In Afghanistan operations yesterday:
-- A coalition airstrike killed an insurgent after he attacked coalition forces with small-arms fire in the Alishing district of Laghman province.
-- Coalition forces arrested six people found with Afghan army uniforms and weapons in the Alingar district of Laghman province.
-- Coalition troops detained three people suspected of being bomb makers in the Terezaki district of Khost province.
-- Afghan police detained a man who had two assault rifles and ammunition in the Zurmat district of Paktia province.
-- Coalition troops detained a man for having bomb-making materials Khost’s Khost district.
-- Afghan border police detained a man as a person of interest in Paktia’s Jaji district.
-- A combined patrol found about 550 pounds of hashish and multiple 82 mm mortar rounds in Kandahar’s Panjwai district.
-- A combined patrol found and destroyed about 1,000 pounds of hashish in Kandahar’s Zharay district.
-- A combined force found and destroyed about 660 pounds of hashish in Helmand’s Musa Qalah district.
In other Afghanistan news, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, International Security Assistance Force commander, joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai in condemning a recent insurgent rocket attack on a home in the Allasai district of Kapisa province that killed a woman and a child and injured seven other people.
"Continued deliberate attacks on the people of Afghanistan that result in the brutal murder of defenseless women and children clearly show that this heartless insurgency has no moral compass whatsoever," Allen said. "I join President Karzai in extending my deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed, and in praying for the fastest recovery of those who were injured in this needless tragedy.”
Allen added that Taliban leader Mohammed Omar's “deafening silence and inaction in stopping these ongoing attacks against innocent Afghan civilians shows that his foot soldiers are now giving the orders while he and his inner circle reside in comfort, allowing the killing of their own brothers and sisters."
