Daily Security Brief: March 31, 2012

GHAZNI: Security forces discovered the dead bodies of two children, their faces badly disfigured with acid, in the southern province of Ghazni, officials said on Saturday.

Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadzai said the Afghan National Army (ANA) found the bodies of a 10-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl in the Nani area of Andar district.

“ANA soldiers were patrolling the area when they found the corpses of the children and handed them over to the area people,” he told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Ahmadzai said acid had been thrown at the children’s faces. Identities of the victims and motive for the murders were yet to be ascertained, but security personnel had launched a search for the killers, he added.

Public Health Department spokesman Safiullah confirmed that two dead children with burn marks on their faces had been brought to the Ghazni Civil Hospital.

A resident of the area, Eid Mohammad, said he took the children’s bodies to hospital. “I saw the scene where the children were killed. There was an acid jerry can near the corpses and footprints of men and tyre tracks were seen.”

So far no one has claimed responsibility for the murders.

–Pajhwok Report

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KAPISA: One member of a family was killed and three others were injured by a stray rocket that hit their house in central Kapisa province on Saturday, an official said.

The incident happened after a fierce clash broke out between the Taliban Mohammad, the town’s administrative chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

One civilian was killed and three others were injured in the rocket strike, but it was not immediately known who fired it, he said.

Sherullah, a shopkeeper in the area, said the Taliban attacked an ANA patrol, sparking a gunbattle.

—Bakhtar Safi

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MAIDAN WARDAK: A senior Taliban commander was detained along with two of his associates during an overnight operation in central Maidan Wardak province, officials said on Saturday.

The operation was carried out jointly by Afghan and foreign troops in Syedabad district, the governor’s spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He identified the detainee as Saifur Rahman, a Taliban official active in Tangi and Sheikhabad areas. Some weapons and equipment were also recovered from the insurgents.

“The commander is involved in a series of attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers. He killed many civilians last year on charges of spying for the government in the district,” Shahid alleged.

Separately, a fighter was killed during a clash with a joint Afghan-international force in Jaghato district, the gubernatorial spokesman said. Members of the combined patrol suffered no casualties.

An ISAF statement said the troops had captured a man accused of supplying weapons and equipment to the Taliban in Wardak province. The detainee also provided roadside bombs to the Taliban, the statement added.

—Mohammad Farid Karimi

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PAKTIKA: At least 33 rebels were killed in southeastern Paktika province over the past two weeks and another eight in the last 24 hours in various provinces, officials said on Saturday.

An operation that was launched on March 20 in different areas of Paktika by Afghan security forces ended on Friday, Gen. Zmarai, the 203rd Thunder Military Corps commander, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The two-week offensive resulted in the death of 33 rebels and capture of five others, the commander said. The security personnel also seized weapons and explosives.

He added most of the dead were suspected Pakistani rebels, who had crossed the border into Afghanistan.“Thirteen anti-vehicle mines were defused and no civilian or security personnel were hurt in the clashes.”

However, the Taliban dismissed the claims as groundless, with their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying that no fighters had been killed or detained during the operation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said eight insurgents were killed and 12 others arrested during operations in different provinces over the past 24 hours.

The operations were conducted by Afghan and NATO-led international troops in Kabul, Kunduz, Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, Logar, Ghazni, Khost and Paktia provinces. Seven anti-vehicle mines were confiscated in the operations.

—Obaid Kharotai

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