BADAKHSHAN: A Taliban group leader has been detained by intelligence operatives in Faizabad city, the capital of northeastern Badakhshan province, an official said on Saturday.
The National Directorate of Security official, who did not want to be named, identified the rebel leader as Mullah Abdullah, a resident of Yaftal district. Abdullah, who has been accused of attacks on local officials, was arrested late on Friday.
A remote-controlled bomb, a car battery and some documents were also recovered from the detainee, the official said.
Abdullah had previously been arrested by intelligence operatives, but later he was released in Kabul. He has been linked to an attack on Gen. Aqa Noor, a former police chief of Badakhshan.
There was no word from Taliban about the arrest.
–Tanha
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BADGHIS: A man was killed and three others, including two girls, were injured when an Afghan army vehicle crashed into a rickshaw in the northwestern province of Badghis on Saturday, officials said.
The accident took place at around 7am on the Marif road in Qala-i-Naw, traffic officer Capt. Esmatullah told Pajhwok Afghan News. The man killed in the mishap was an employee of the provincial education department, he said.
A second man and two schoolgirls were injured. All victims were travelling in the three-wheeler, the traffic official said.
Public Health Director Dr. Abdul Aziz said three injured people had been brought to the civil hospital. The rickshaw driver is in critical condition, he added.
The ANA driver had been arrested and referred to the prosecutor’s office of ANA’s 3rd bridge for interrogation, said the deputy police chief, Col. Ghulam Nabi.
–Abdul Latif Ayubi
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HELMAND: Counternarcotics police seized thousands of kilograms of narcotics during an operation in southern Helmand province, the governor’s office said on Saturday.
The narcotics included 4,975 kilograms of chemical substance used in processing heroin, 15kg of opium and 66 liters of acid, the governor’s office said in a statement.
The materials were seized by counternarcotics police in the Marja district two days back.
Separately, 46 kg of hashish were recovered from a truck by police in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, the statement said. Three suspects were detained in connection with the drugs, it said, adding the detainees wanted to smuggle the narcotics to western Farah province.
In Sangin district, police backed by National Directorate of Security (NDS) officials arrested 19 farmers on the charge of cultivating poppies. The governor’s house said security forces also seized and defused seven home-made bombs in the Malazi area of Sanfgin.
–Pajhwok Report
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KABUL: One armed insurgent was wounded and 25 others were detained during a series of operations in various provinces over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Saturday.
Involving Afghan and ISAF troops, the operations were conducted in Logar, Nangarhar, Zabul, Khost, Paktika and Parwan provinces, the ministry said in a statement.
Ten AK-47 assault rifles, two pistols, three machine guns, five rocket launchers, 1,090 heavy bullets, three binoculars, four anti-vehicle mines, six missiles, 47 artillery shells, a suicide vest and 37 landmines were seized.
–Pajhwok Report
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KABUL: The Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) said on Saturday its appeal court had sentenced an Iranian national to 20 years in prison for trafficking 90 kilograms of heroin into Afghanistan.
Arrested by local police in the Abresham area of Nimroz province, the convict had been transporting goods on his truck between Iran and Afghanistan for eight years, a CJTF official said.
The-40-year old confessed to his crime during investigations and the subsequent trial, saying he had been paid 600,000 Iranian tomans to transport one kilogram of heroin from Nimroz to Iran.
Farooq Fayez, a CJTF prosecutor dealing with the case, said the the Iranian was a professional drug trafficker who was arrested red-handed while trying to smuggle 90 kg of heroin. “During the investigation, we found he trafficked narcotics from Afghanistan to Iran many times.”
The prosecutor said that Article 64 of the Counter-Narcotics Law regarding a reduction in the sentence if the detainee presented information about his accomplices was explained to the man, but he rejected the offer.
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KABUL: Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency, on Saturday, the alliance said.
An individual in Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform apparently turned his weapon on Afghan and coalition forces, an ISAF statement said, adding the shooter was also killed during the incident.
Since the beginning of the current year, 499 foreign soldiers have been killed in the country, where the NATO-led force lost 711 soldiers in 2010.
–Pajhwok Report
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LOGAR: A Taliban fighter was killed and three others were injured during a clash with a joint Afghan-international security force in central Logar province, an official said on Saturday.
The operation was conducted in the Barakirajan area of Baraki Barak district, the provincial police chief said.
Brig. Gen. Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai told Pajhwok Afghan News the Taliban took away their injured comrades from the site. The joint force suffered no casualties, he said.
Elsewhere in the province, two men accused of cooperating with the Taliban were arrested by a security force on the outskirts of Pul-i-Alam City, the provincial capital.
The operation was carried out in the Niazi area on Friday night, the police chief said.
Meanwhile, ISAF said an operation targeting a Haqqani network leader was carried out in Logar and some insurgents were arrested.
–Maqsud Azizi
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MAIDAN WARDAG: A seven-member group of robbers was detained by police in the central province of Maidan Wardak, officials said on Saturday.
The robbers were caught red-handed by police on Friday evening when they were looting passengers in the Mullah Yaqub area of Behsud district.
Shahidullah Shahid, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News a Kalashnikov, two pistols, 27 mobile phones, a minibus and some cash were recovered from the robbers.
Hailing from neighbouring Bamyan province, the robbers were under interrogation at detective police and judicial departments, he said.
—Farid Karimi
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NIMROZ: Security forces detained 35 farmers on the charge of cultivating the illicit poppy crop in their fields in southwestern Nimroz province, officials said on Saturday.
The arrests were made in Khashrod district following repeated warnings to farmers against growing the banned plant, the district chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.
Mohammad Hasham Nawrozi said detainees would be handed over to relevant authorities for investigations.
Poppy cultivation almost doubled in insecure districts of Nimroz this year, said Mohammad Anwar Muradi, the Counternarcotics Department head.
About 1,000 hectors of land was cultivated with poppies in 2010, but this year the cultivation reached 1,900 hectors in insurgent-controlled areas, he said.
Except in two districts, poppy farming has been reduced to zero across the province due to the improved security situation, Muradi said.
Meanwhile, farmers accused the government of ignoring their demands and needs. Abdul Latif, a farmer from the Deh Mazang area, said they irrigated their farmlands with the help of hand pumps. “If we sow wheat or other food crops, we cannot meet our expenses.”
Agriculture Director Mohammad Akbar Sharifi confirmed the problems faced by growers, saying 215 tonnes of seeds and 150 tonnes of fertilisers had been distributed to them last year, but this year they had not been provided with new supplies.
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