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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47266
Insurgents Killed, Captured in Afghanistan
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2007 – Several recent conflicts in Afghanistan’s Helmand province have resulted in “scores” of insurgent deaths and detentions, Combined Joint Task Force- 82 officials said.
Yesterday, Afghan National Auxiliary Police officers, advised by coalition forces, defeated an attempted Taliban ambush near the Musa Qalah valley, in the Helmand province. Musa Qalah, is widely considered as the largest Taliban stronghold left in Afghanistan.
The combined force was supporting an International Security Assistance Force unit as it crossed the valley when Taliban insurgents attacked. The insurgents used small-arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from several buildings connected by an extensive trench system.
Afghan, coalition and ISAF forces returned fire using small-arms and crew-served weapons. As the insurgents reinforced their positions with additional fighters, the ground-force commander called in coalition close-air support.
The compounds, which were positively confirmed as enemy positions, were targeted in the air strikes. Seven Taliban insurgents were killed during the fighting.
“The Taliban should know they will constantly be hunted until this country is free of their terrorist activities,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force- 82 spokesperson.
On Aug. 31, Afghan National Auxiliary Police officers, advised by coalition forces, quelled an insurgent attack in Regay, in the Musa Qalah district of the same province.
The joint force was on patrol when insurgents attacked with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire from multiple compounds located in the northwestern portion of Regay.
Afghan forces maneuvered against the Taliban fighters after calling for close-air support. In the fight that ensued, nearly two dozen insurgents were killed.
Earlier that day, elements of the Afghan National Army, advised by coalition forces, continued an operation to clear the Taliban from both sides of the Musa Qalah valley during a combat patrol in Helmand province.
The Afghan-led patrol was about seven miles south of Regay village when insurgents attacked with RPGs and small-arms fire. The combined force repelled the attack using small-arms, machine-guns and MK-19 grenade launchers. The forces also called in air strikes as the fighting continued.
A number of enemy fighters were killed in the engagement.
“The continuation of this operation is having the desired effect of disrupting the insurgents in the heart of their support area,” Belcher said. “The combat successes of the combined (Afghan national security forces) and coalition units are becoming routine in the Helmand province.”
Afghan and coalition forces are conducting operations as part of the International Security Assistance Force’s “Operation Palk Mesher” to disrupt and eliminate insurgents in the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, six men were detained and several others were killed during an Aug. 31 operation in Ghazni province targeting a militant responsible for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters.
Credible intelligence led Afghan and coalition forces to a compound in the Dih Yak district where a weapons cache was found inside a vehicle. The cache, which included mortar and artillery rounds, numerous hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms rounds and various ammunition vests, was destroyed.
During the course of the operation, some damage to area compounds and fields occurred.
Coalition forces tracked down several armed males who attempted to flee the area. The suspects engaged the forces with small-arms fire and were killed when coalition forces returned fire.
In the Pitigal Valley region of Afghanistan, a joint Afghan force advised by coalition forces detained 11 insurgents and killed more than 20 others during a targeted strike against three compounds Aug. 31.
The Afghan National Army’s 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 201st Corps, and officers from several Afghan National Police stations in the area, launched an air-assault in the mountainous region of the Kamdesh district, Nuristan province. The district is about 4 miles from the border with Pakistan.
Intelligence reports indicated insurgent leaders take refuge in the villages of Pitigal, Shetigal, and Destigal as they travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The remoteness of the villages has allowed the extremists to stage attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in lower valleys and retreat to their mountain sanctuary.
While clearing the objectives, the combined Afghan forces discovered a homemade bomb-making factory, various weapons, communication gear and uniform items.
Afghan forces took the detainees for questioning.
“Last night’s operation to defeat this stronghold demonstrates (Afghanistan’s) ability to project force into remote areas and legitimize its control over northeastern Afghanistan,” Belcher said. “This (Afghan force-led) operation will have devastating effects on the insurgents’ ability to operate in the area while demonstrating the futility of resisting the legitimate government of Afghanistan.”
One coalition service member was wounded during the attack.
(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47265
Forces Capture 59 Suspects During Recent Iraq Operations
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces detained 59 suspected insurgents during operations in Iraq since Aug. 31.
Forces detained 16 suspected terrorists during a combat-air-assault operation in Mahmudiyah yesterday. U.S. soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and Iraqi soldiers of the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, captured the suspects during Operation Eagle Chickmauga.
The operation targeted against Shiia extremist groups in the Mahmudiyah area. The combined forces questioned 59 Iraqis during a search of houses in the area. Only 16 were detained.
Coalition forces also responded to a truck bomb attack in the Chaka 5 region yesterday. As the vehicle attempted to enter the patrol base, Paratroopers of the 25th Infantry Division’s Company C, 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, engaged the vehicle with heavy machine gun fire, detonating the bomb.
The coalition patrol base took enemy mortar and small-arms fire immediately before the truck bomb attempted to enter. One paratrooper sustained minor injuries during the attack.
On Aug. 31, Task Force Marne Soldiers netted seven suspects during an air-assault raid in the Tigris River Valley southeast of Baghdad.
Helicopters from the Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division took soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, to the target by as part of Operation Marne Husky. This air-assault mission was the fourth in a series of air insertions dubbed Falcon Fury.
While the detainees were being held for questioning, four tested positive for explosives residue on their hands indicating they had recently handled explosives. Two others are being held for questioning were found to be in possession of illegal weapons.
Marne Husky is a combined air and ground campaign led by the Combat Aviation Brigade. The operation’s goal is to disrupt the enemy’s ability to stage spectacular attacks against coalition and Iraqi forces, said Army Lt. Col. Robert Wilson, executive officer, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade. It’s designed to disrupt insurgents’ ability to flee to the Tigris River Valley after Marne offensives in the Arab Jabour and Salman Pak areas.
“The targeted raids and the threat of future raids have
disrupted insurgent forces’ patterns of life and operations,” Wilson said. “We are denying them sanctuaries for planning, equipping and staging spectacular attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Forces.”
The same day near Muqdadiyah, two companies from the 5th Iraqi Army detained 36 suspected al Qaeda terrorists and destroyed two weapons caches.
The suspected terrorists are linked to an Aug. 21 attack on 5th Iraqi Army soldiers, which left nine dead. Al Qaeda uses the villages in the Hamrin Ridge area as safe havens while conducting bomb attacks and smuggling weapons in the area.
Because of the large amount of weapons and explosives found in two houses and three nearby vehicles, forces conducted controlled detonations to destroy this cache.
Forces found a second cache containing 120 mm artillery rounds and called in close-air support, destroying the cache with fire from an F-16 fighter.
Additionally, forces seized four vehicles, a motorcycle, explosives, four rockets, anti-tank mines, artillery rounds, AK-47 assault rifles, radios and various propaganda documents.
In a separate mission, Iraqi security forces conducted an operation near Tal Afar resulting in the controlled detonation of a large cache of explosives and supplies allegedly belonging to al Qaeda terrorists.
The cache included mortar rounds, detonation cord, timed fuses, blasting caps, flares, radios, smoke grenades, TNT, and electrical wire.
U.S. Special Forces advised during both operations.
In Baghdad the same day, a Multinational Division Baghdad close-combat-support aircraft destroyed a mortar system on a rooftop in the Rashid district in a southwestern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital.
During a small-arms engagement, helicopters tracked a suspected insurgent to a home with a mortar system on the roof. After positively identifying the weapon, an Apache attack helicopter fired two missiles and roughly 30 rounds of 30 mm ammunition on the house destroying the system and damaging the structure. Nearby units reported secondary explosions.
The damaged tube was recovered.
In the house where the suspect fled, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, found a sniper rifle, a machine gun, AK-47 assault rifles, a long-range scope and Iraqi army body armor.
Later in the day, soldiers of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, also seized a sniper rifle, a laptop, empty sniper rifle magazines, a belt of machine gun ammunition, scopes and a broken-down sniper rifle receiver and barrel.
(From Multinational Corps Iraq and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Arabian Peninsula news releases.)