Daily Security Brief: February 16, 2012

GHAZNI: Three members of a family were injured in an airstrike by foreign troops in the Deh Yak district of southern Ghazni province, an official said on Thursday.

The incident took place in the Alikhel village on Wednesday evening, the town’s administrative head, Haji Fazal Ahmad, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops spotted some militants in the area from the air, but they mistakenly hit a civilian house, he said. The injured included an 8-year-old girl.

One of the victims, Baz Mohammad, 40, said he was injured along with his brother and a nephew. His brother lost one of his legs. They were later evacuated by foreign troops to their health), Mohammad said.  

“My brother, who sustained serious injuries, was rushed to the Bagram airfield,” he said. ISAF has so far not commented on the incident, but resident Nasrullah said there were no militants in the area when the attack took place.

–Mirwais Himmat

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ISLAMABAD: One person was killed and three others were injured in a suicide blast in the Upper Dir district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province on Thursday morning, officials said.

The bomb attack happened in the Godhar area near the main bazaar of the district, Ayub Khan, a local police official, told Pajhwok Afghan News.  

He said members of a pro-government peace force, known as Amman Laskar, was the target. Sher Alam, a son of the militia leader, was killed in the attack.

According to Dr. Rizwanullah, an official at the district headquarters hospital, two of the injured were in critical condition.

—Qaisar Yosufzai

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ISLAMABAD: Five people were killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Thursday, officials said.

The unmanned CIA-operated aircraft fired missiles into a house in the Spalgi area on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in the region, a political administration official said.

Khandan Khan told Pajhwok Afghan News the early morning attack destroyed the compound, killing several people. But the exact number was yet to be ascertained, he said.

A local journalist, Malik Mumtaz, said five residents were killed and two others wounded in the raid. The drone hovered over the area for some time after the attack, creating panic among residents.

A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone fired two missiles into the compound used by militants.

The latest attack came a week after US missiles killed Badar Mansoor, the most senior Pakistani in the Al Qaeda network, in the same area — a stronghold of the Taliban and other militants.

Unmanned drone strikes were halted for more than a month after a cross-border attack by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on two checkpoints in the lawless Mohmand tribal region on Nov. 26, 2011.

Mansoor, the most senior Pakistani in Al-Qaeda, one of America’s main targets in the country was wanted for attacks that killed scores of people.

—Qaisar Yosufzai

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NANGARHAR: One elderly man was killed and another detained during a joint operation by Afghan and foreign troops in the Behsud district of eastern Nangarhar province, residents and officials said on Thursday.

Although, the security responsibility for Behsud was transferred to Afghan forces three weeks ago, the overnight raid was carried out jointly in the Saracha village on houses of refugees, said Mullah Sharif, a tribal elder.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News residents of the village were locked up by foreign troops prior to launching the search operation. Residents were later released by the joint force, killing a 70-year-old man and arresting another.

The ISAF office in the east confirmed the operation, but provided no details.But in a statement issued by IJC in kabul said : (( In Rodat district, Nangarhar province, an Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban leader today. The leader directs attacks, recruits fighters and acquires weapons for Taliban insurgents. During the operation, the security force engaged an individual armed with a grenade, killing the insurgent. One suspected insurgent was also detained during the operation))

Governor, Gul Agha Sherzai said he had sought a clarification from the joint command centre of Afghan and foreign troops.

In response to a question, the governor said foreign troops could conduct operations only when requested by Afghan forces, who had taken over the security responsibility.

–Abdul Mueed Hashimi

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