WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2012 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force called in an airstrike that killed two insur­gents in the Man­duzai dis­trict of Afghanistan’s Khost province today, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The force was search­ing for a Haqqani net­work leader who oper­ates an insur­gent cell in the Nadir Shah Kot dis­trict and plans road­side-bomb attacks.
The secu­ri­ty force observed some insur­gents bury­ing a 100-pound bomb near a road and called for the pre­ci­sion airstrike that killed the two insur­gents. Three oth­ers were detained.
The secu­ri­ty force also con­fis­cat­ed a rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, mul­ti­ple firearms and bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als.
– A com­bined force seized bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als, weapons and ammu­ni­tion and detained sev­er­al sus­pects while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in the Bagh­lan-e Jadid dis­trict of Bagh­lan province. The facil­i­ta­tor makes explo­sives, con­structs road­side bombs and sup­plies bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als to insur­gent groups.
– A com­bined force cap­tured a Haqqani net­work leader and two oth­er sus­pects in the Nadir Shah Kot dis­trict of Khost province. The leader trained insur­gent fight­ers and direct­ed road­side-bomb attacks.
– A com­bined force killed an insur­gent, detained sev­er­al sus­pects and seized weapons while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor in the Kaja­ki dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The facil­i­ta­tor oper­ates a net­work in the Musa Qalah dis­trict and dis­trib­utes weapons and explo­sives to insur­gents.
– A com­bined force killed sev­er­al insur­gents and seized 880 pounds of opi­um, 1,562 pounds of drug-pro­duc­ing chem­i­cals and mis­cel­la­neous equip­ment in Helmand’s Now Zad dis­trict.
– Afghan and coali­tion forces killed sev­en insur­gents and detained five sus­pects dur­ing sev­er­al oper­a­tions in east­ern Afghanistan.
– In the Pan­jwai dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined patrol seized about 6,600 pounds of hashish.
– A com­bined force detained sev­er­al sus­pects and seized about 2,530 pounds of opi­um, sev­er­al firearms and ammu­ni­tion in the Wash­er dis­trict of Hel­mand province.
– A com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered a cache con­tain­ing firearms, grenades, and about 850 rounds of ammu­ni­tion in Helmand’s Nad-e Ali dis­trict.
– In the Nawah dis­trict of Ghazni province, a com­bined force found sev­er­al bombs con­tain­ing a total of about 100 pounds of explo­sives.
– In the Dand dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined force detained two sus­pects dur­ing a search for a Tal­iban leader linked to a recent sui­cide-bomb attack against an Afghan police offi­cial.
– A com­bined patrol found fin­ished bombs and about 165 pounds of explo­sives in the Mai­wand dis­trict of Kan­da­har province.
– In the Jalal­abad dis­trict of Nan­garhar province, a com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered about 5,000 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, a banned fer­til­iz­er insur­gents use to make explo­sives.
– Afghan secu­ri­ty forces detained the two top fig­ures in a nar­cotics ring oper­at­ing out of the Shin­war dis­trict of Nan­ga­har province. The Afghan-led oper­a­tion, sup­port­ed by coali­tion forces, also result­ed in deten­tion of eight peo­ple alleged­ly linked to nar­cotics activ­i­ties. The arrests fol­low Afghan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai’s Jan. 9 order that the inte­ri­or min­istry take seri­ous mea­sures to bring drug deal­ers and nar­cotics net­works to jus­tice, cit­ing the nar­cotics indus­try as a desta­bi­liz­ing fac­tor that under­mines the moral foun­da­tion of the state and con­tributes to an over­all lack of secu­ri­ty in Afghan soci­ety.
– A com­bined force called in an airstrike that killed a Tal­iban leader and an asso­ciate in the Marah Warah dis­trict of Kunar province. The leader direct­ed insur­gent fight­ers who planned and led attacks against Afghan forces and led a June attack against a school-open­ing cer­e­mo­ny in the Dari­dam vil­lage.