OEF Update, Oct. 18, 2009: Forces in Afghanistan Kill, Detain Militants; ISAF Casualty

Dispatches from the Front:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 18, 2009 -- Yesterday, a joint Afghan and international security force killed several enemy militants and detained a few suspected militants after searching a compound in Khowst province known to be used by a key Taliban commander in charge of multiple fighters in the region.

The joint security force targeted the mountainside compound near the village of Afzal Kheyl in Sperah District after intelligence indicated militant activity. No Afghan civilians or joint force members were harmed during this operation.

In a separate operation in Oruzgan province on Oct. 16, a joint Afghan and international security force killed a small group of militants and wounded several others during an operation to detain a suspected insurgent leader believed responsible for planning and conducting insurgent operations in the village of Kochak, Khas Oruzgan district.

In another operation on Oct. 16 in Helmand province, a joint Afghan and international security force killed one enemy militant, detained several others and confiscated an AK-47 after coming under direct fire from enemy militants while conducting a routine patrol in Nahri Sarraj Desert, Lashkar Gah district. No Afghan civilians or joint force members were harmed during this operation.

In a different operation on Oct. 17 in Ghazni province, a joint Afghan and international security force killed a few enemy militants after searching a compound known through intelligence reports to be used by insurgents as a safe haven. No Afghan civilians or joint force members were harmed during this operation.

ISAF Casualty

One U.S. servicemember was killed in an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan, Oct. 18.

(Compiled from NATO International Security Assistance Force news releases.)