Dec. 28., 2010 - Afghanistan News (summary)

[SgtJim]

War in Afghanistan News reports provided by ISAF Joint Command.
Operations are reported in the following
provinces: Helmand, Kapisa, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Ghazni, Kunduz and Nimroz.

Numerous insurgents were killed in two separate incidents in Helmand and Kandahar,
when they fled from their vehicles and attempted to engage the joint Afghan national security
and International Security Assistance Force.In Kandahar, Ghazni and Logar provinces, combined
patrols found four weapons and improvised explosive device components caches in Panjwa’i, Bahram-e Shahid,
Muhammad Aghah and Arghandab districts during separate clearing operations. The caches consisted of 1,600 .50 caliber rounds,
1,650 12.7 mm rounds, 12 chest racks, 11 pressure plates, 260 14.5 mm rounds, three rocket-propelled
grenades, 200 7.62 mm rounds, 122 82 mm mortar rounds and several IED making electrical components

Helmand Province
In Musa Qal’ah district, Helmand province, coalition forces spotted insurgents emplacing an improvised
explosive device. After gaining positive identification, coalition forces engaged the enemy position with
small arms fire, killing several insurgents.

Kapisa Province
In Tagab district, a combined patrol was engaged by insurgents with small arms fire.
After gaining positive identification, combined forces returned fire to the enemy position,
killing and wounding numerous insurgents.

Afghan national security forces and ISAF discovered several caches in eastern
and southern Afghanistan today.

Uruzgan Province
A combined patrol discovered a large weapons and IED components cache in Chorah district,
Uruzgan province, consisting of 30 .50 caliber, 100 .50 caliber armor-piercing rounds, 500 7.62 mm rounds,
four AK-47s, 30 9 mm rounds, two guns, three chest racks, one radio rigged for radio command device, six RPGs and two fuses.
Kandahar Province
The International Security Assistance Force joins the President of Afghanistan in condemning
the vile suicide attack that killed at least one civilian in Kandahar City, Dec. 27.

The attack also wounded at least six civilians and eight Afghan national security force members,
and resulted in substantial damage to a nearby mosque.

“This attack clearly shows how desperate insurgents are to prevent the Afghan people from
governing their own stable and free country,” said Rear Admiral Vic Beck, ISAF Director of
Public Affairs. “We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the murdered civilian,
and wish for a quick recovery for all those wounded in today’s attack. We will continue
to work with our Afghan counterparts to ensure that those responsible will be brought to justice.”

Ghazni Province
Coalition forces conducted a precision air strike in Ghazni province yesterday targeting
a suspected Taliban house-borne improvised explosive device facility.

Intelligence sources indicated that a compound frequented by a Taliban leader
responsible for attacks on Afghan National Security Forces in the Gelan district was
likely being used as a house-borne IED facility in order to kill Afghan National Security
and coalition force personnel. Recent reporting indicates his group was also making
two suicide vehicle-borne IED's to be used against coalition forces operating in the province.

After careful planning to protect any civilians and property in the area, coalition forces
conducted a precision air strike on the compound.

Kunduz Province
Afghan and coalition forces targeted a Taliban leader for Chahar Darah and Aliabad
districts detaining three suspected insurgents during a security operation yesterday.

The targeted Taliban leader has connections to a Taliban explosives and weapons
facilitator who is involved with producing and distributing IED's and facilitates the movement of suicide bombers.

The security force followed intelligence tips to the potential compound of the Taliban
leader in Kunduz district. Afghan forces used a loudspeaker to call for all occupants to
exit the compound peacefully before the joint security force cleared and secured the building.
While securing the building, they found a child who had been injured during the clearing.
The security force provided first aid to the child’s minor injury. After the area was secure,
the security force conducted initial questioning at the scene before detaining three suspected insurgents.

Nimroz Province
Afghan and coalition forces detained six detainees during a joint security operation
targeting a Taliban attack facilitator.

Forces conducted the operation in search of the facilitator who moves munitions and IED
materials within northern Nimroz for attacks against coalition forces. He also facilitates the
movement of materials to Taliban associates within Kandahar.

Forces followed leads to a series of targeted buildings in the Khash Rod district. The joint
forces questioned the occupants of the location and conducted a search. The suspects
were detained based on initial questioning.

The joint security team conducted these operations in the hours of darkness to minimize
the risk to local citizens. The security forces conducted the operation without firing their weapons.


from waronterrornews

[scoutreturns]

The US launched two airstrikes today in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The strikes are the first in 10 days, and the first in the Mir Ali area in a month.

In the first strike, unmanned Predators or the more heavily armed and deadly Reapers fired two missiles at a compound and four more missiles at two vehicles in the village of Sher Tala in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, according to Geo News. One of the vehicles is said to have been laden with explosives and ammunition, "magnifying the blasts from the missile attacks," Al Jazeera reported. Pakistani intelligence officials said that 21 "rebels" were killed. Pakistani officials often refer to al Qaeda or allied Central Asian terrorists as rebels.

The second strike occurred hours later in the village of Machikhel in the Mir Ali area. Four more Taliban fighters were killed in an attack on a vehicle.

No senior al Qaeda or Taliban fighters have been reported killed in either of the strikes.

The Mir Ali area is in the sphere of influence of Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an al Qaeda leader who serves as a key link to the Taliban and supports al Qaeda's external operations network. Mir Ali is a known hub for al Qaeda's military and external operations councils. In addition to al Qaeda, Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Haqqani Network also operate in the Mir Ali area.

In 2010, the US has been pounding targets in the Datta Khel, Miramshah, and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan in an effort to kill members involved in the European plot. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and a number of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups host or share camps in the region.

Since Sept. 8, a total of 16 Germans and two Britons have been reported killed in Predator strikes in the Mir Ali area. The Europeans were members of the Islamic Jihad Group, an al Qaeda affiliate based in the Mir Ali area. The IJU members are believed to be involved in a recently discovered al Qaeda plot that targeted several major European cities and was modeled after the terror assault on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Bahadar or the Haqqani Network. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

The Predator strikes, by the numbers

Today's strikes are the first since the US launched three attacks in the Tirah Valley in the tribal agency of Khyber on Dec. 17. In those attacks, 54 Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam fighters were killed.

The US has carried out nine airstrikes in Pakistan's tribal agencies since the beginning of December.

The pace of the strikes from the beginning of September up to the end of November was unprecedented since the US began the air campaign in Pakistan in 2004. September's record number of 21 strikes was followed by 16 strikes in October and 14 more in November. The previous monthly high was 11 strikes in January 2010, after the Taliban and al Qaeda executed a successful suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman that targeted CIA personnel who were active in gathering intelligence for the Predator campaign in Pakistan. The suicide bombing at COP Chapman killed seven CIA officials and a Jordanian intelligence officer.

The US has carried out 114 attacks inside Pakistan in 2010, more than doubling the number of strikes in 2009. In late August 2010, the US exceeded 2009's strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram. In 2008, the US carried out a total of 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010.]

In 2010 the strikes have been confined almost exclusively to North Waziristan, where the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups are based. All but 13 of this year's 114 strikes have taken place North Waziristan. Of the 13 strikes that have occurred outside of North Waziristan, seven took place in South Waziristan, five occurred in Khyber, and one took place in Kurram.

Since Sept. 1, 2010, the US has conducted 60 strikes in Pakistan's tribal agencies. The bulk of those attacks took place against the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 54 strikes in the tribal agency. Many of the strikes targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which have been plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJU commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.

The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda's external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda's external operations.