Troops in Afghanistan Kill Militant Fighters

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2008 -- Coalition and Afghan forces killed several militants and seized weapons in Afghanistan in operations this week, military officials said.

During a combined force patrol in the Nahr Surkh district of Helmand province, militants engaged troops with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from a fortified position.

The patrol, which responded with small-arms fire, called for fire support. The retaliatory measures killed an unknown number of militants, military officials said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan on July 16, Afghan national security forces, assisted by coalition troops, confiscated a large weapons cache in the Sheberghan district of Jawzjan province.

Acting on information supplied by local residents, the combined element removed and destroyed the munitions from a compound in She Shanben village.

The stockpile consisted of more than 1,000 mortar rounds, 60 anti-aircraft rounds, and various small arms with several tons of ammunition, military officials said.

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

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