Daily Security Brief: April 3, 2012

BADAKHSHAN: Four border policemen were killed and a fifth injured during a clash with Taliban insurgents in the Wardoj district of northeastern Badakhshan province, an official said on Tuesday.

The rebels attacked a police post in the Tirgaran village late on Monday night, deputy police chief Col. Sakhidad Haidari told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Deputy Governor Shamsur Rahman Shams said the post had been torched and its equipment seized by the assailants. He would not detail the equipment for security reasons.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed that six policemen were killed and nearly a dozen others captured during the attack. The fighters also seized police weapons, he added.

--Gul Mohammad Tanha

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KABUL, the alliance said on Tuesday.

The incident took place during a security operation, ISAF said in a brief statement that gave no further details.

While ruling out insurgents’ involvement, the NATO-led force said all crewmembers had been evacuated from the site.

The scene was cordoned off by the international soldiers and an investigation had been launched into the incident, the statement added.

--Pajhwok Report

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KABUL: An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier died due to a non-battle-related injury in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said on Tuesday.

The death was announced in a brief statement from the ISAF media office, which did not reveal the soldier’s nationality. Mostly American troops are deployed to the eastern provinces.

So far during the current year, 94 foreign troops, including 59 Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan. Last year, 566 ISAF soldiers were killed across the country.

--Pajhwok Report

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KABUL: Three Taliban militants were killed, four injured and  several other suspects, including kidnappers, detained in a string of security operations in Ghazni, Zabul, Kapisa and Herat provinces, officials said on Tuesday. 

A huge amount of weapons, ammunitions and drugs were also seized in the operations. In Kapisa, three insurgents were killed and four others injured in Joibar, Jalukhil and Yatiman areas of Tagab district on Tuesday, the district chief, Abdul Hakim Akhunzada, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Separately, four suspects were detained with weapons and ammunitions by intelligence operatives in Qalat, the capital of southern Zabul province, said the governor's spokesman, Sharif Nasiri.

Eight Kalashnikovs, two walkie-talkies, 10 magazines, a gun and some ammunition were recovered from the detainees, he said. The detainees worked for a private security company, the official said, without going into details.

On Monday, two Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing in Mizani district, the gubernatorial spokesman said. The injured were shifted to a health facility. 

In southern Ghazni, five people were held with 150 bottles of alcoholic beverages, five kilograms of hashish and three kilograms of opium in the Nawabad area of Ghazni City, the provincial capital, said the police chief, Brig. Gen. Zarawar Zahid.

Separately, 10 kidnappers were detained in 5th, 6th and 8th police districts of the western city of Herat and Injeel district of the province, police chief Brig. Gen. Syed Agha Saqib told a news conference.

He said the detainees belonged to Rabat Sangi and Ghorian districts and some of them had confessed to their involvement in the abduction of a trader named Ghulam Sakhi Zamati.

A police official, wishing anonymity, said Zurmati was released after spending two months in captivity and paying $50,000 in ransom. 

Police said the gang had been involved in kidnapping three employees of a demining company and a resident of Herat two days ago in Ghorian district.

Elsewhere in the province, four illegal gunmen were arrested by police in Chasht-i-Sharif district, police spokesman Noor Khan Nikzad said. More than 50 kilograms of explosives, 5 vehicles, 12 weapons, police uniforms and ammunitions were seized from their possession, he added.

--Pajhwok Report

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KUNAR: Security forces arrested two would-be suicide attackers in the Khas Kunar district of eastern Kunar province, officials said on Tuesday.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Hewaz Mohammad Khan told Pajhwok Afghan News one of the attackers was a resident of neighbouring Nuristan province and the second belonged to Kunar. 

Identified as Asadullah and Abdul Razzaq, the alleged bombers were arrested with explosives by a joint force in the Koki Banda area on Sunday evening, he said. The bombers wanted to strike a police centre in the district.

Both attackers said they had been sent to target foreign troops in the district by a a Taliban commander, named Moharar who is active in Deh Wagal area.

--Khan Wali Salarzai

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KUNDUZ: A senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) leader was arrested and one of his accomplices killed during an operation in northern Kunduz province, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Tuesday.

A joint Afghan-international security force conducted the operation in pursuit of the IMU leader, a professional bomb maker, who was arrested in the Dashti Archi district.

ISAF accused the detainee of supervising the bomb-making process and leading attacks against Afghan and ISAF soldiers in the district. One insurgent was wounded during the operation.

The district chief, Sadruddin, identified the detainee as Ziaul Rahman, who led a 15-member militant group. Rahman, who recently returned from Pakistan, was arrested in a building near the district centre. An explosives-packed motorcycle was also seized during the operation.

--Wahidullah

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