Troops in Afghanistan Kill, Detain Enemy Fighters

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2008 -- Coalition forces in Afghanistan killed several enemy fighters and detained eight others in recent days, military officials said.

Yesterday in Afghanistan:

• An Afghan noncombatant was killed and several were wounded when a militant mortar attack directed at a coalition base in Konar province missed and struck near a group of local citizens. The militants, 300 meters inside Pakistan, repeatedly fired mortars at a coalition base and missed, officials said. Coalition forces returned artillery fire, and the militants retreated, officials added.

• Three Taliban militants were detained in Ghazni province, where coalition forces were targeting a Taliban militant in the area.

• Coalition forces detained five militants while targeting a senior Taliban leader and homemade-bomb facilitator in Helmand province. During the search, forces discovered assault rifles and a cache of opium. The weapons and drugs were destroyed to prevent possible militant use.

In an operation June 30, several militants were killed during a reconnaissance patrol by Afghan national security forces and coalition forces in the Maywand district of Kandahar province. The militants attacked the patrol using rockets. The militants were pursued and were later killed with precision air strikes, officials said.

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 101 news releases.)

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