OEF Update, July 5, 2009: Troops in Afghanistan Nab Key Haqqani Operator in Logar

Dispatches from the Front:

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 5, 2009 -- Afghan and coalition forces assaulted a compound last night in Logar province, detaining a key Haqqani leader and his associate in an effort to disrupt Haqqani-led improvised explosive device attacks against coalition forces.

The combined force targeted a walled-in compound in the rural Baraki Barak District, about 65 kilometers southwest of Kabul, after intelligence indicated recent militant activity. The force searched the compound without incident and detained two suspected militants, one of whom was subsequently identified as a key Haqqani operator working in Logar. This Haqqani operator is also involved in the recruitment of children as suicide bombers.

The Haqqani network remains one of the most lethal Taliban organizations operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area. Haqqani leaders conduct operations in conjunction with other Islamic militant groups with similar goals and interests. The network focuses operations against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Afghan national security forces and seeks to expel coalition and NATO forces from Afghanistan to maintain its influence in eastern provinces.

(Report from a U.S. Forces Afghanistan news release.)

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