Troops Disrupt al Qaeda Weapons Network in Afghanistan

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2008 (AFPS) -- A coalition operation to capture a Taliban leader and disrupt facilitation networks in Afghanistan’s Helmand province March 26 resulted in insurgents’ deaths and the wounding of a civilian not involved in hostilities, military officials reported.

The troops were searching compounds in the province’s Kajaki district, looking for a Taliban insurgent linked to weapons-facilitation operations in the area when they were attacked.

“Coalition forces received small-arms fire from several insurgents armed with AK-47s, machine guns, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades during their search,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition forces spokesman. “Coalition forces firing in self-defense during multiple engagements killed several insurgents.”

Coalition forces discovered a wounded civilian not involved in hostilities after the engagement.

“An adult female was wounded during a firefight between insurgents and coalition forces,” Belcher said. “A coalition forces medical specialist immediately tended to the wound, ensuring she was stabilized before transporting her and her husband [acting as escort] to a medical facility for further treatment.”

The coalition troops recovered weapons and explosives during the operations and destroyed them on-site to protect the compound’s residents, as well as to prevent the items from being used by other insurgents.

Four individuals with suspected links to the targeted Taliban insurgent and Taliban weapons-facilitation operations were detained.

(From a Combined Joint Task Force 82 news release.)

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