Daily Security Brief: June 28, 2011

BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN) and injured a driver in two separate attacks in the Mastong area of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to local police officer Abdul Majeed.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for either attack.

— Hijratullah

GHAZNI: Unidentified arsonists burnt down a school in southern Ghazni province, District Chief Mohammad Amin Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday.

In the incident took place in the Chaghato area of the province late on Monday night. All the books and equipment in the school were destroyed in the fire.

Ahmadi blamed the Taliban for the incident, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Majahid denied responsibility.

— Mirwais Himmat

HELMAND: Five militants were killed during a security operation in this southern province on Tuesday, a statement from the governor’s office said.

The clean-up operation was carried out in the Nad Ali district. A machinegun, a rocket launcher, a Kalashnikov and three Walkie-Talkies were recovered from the dead rebels, the statement said.

— Zainullah Stanakzai

JAWZJAN: Four Taliban fighters and as many civilians were killed during a clash with police on Monday in the Mardyan district of northern Jawzjan province, Deputy Police Chief Col. Mohamad Ibrahim told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The Taliban were searching civilian vehicles in the area when police attempted to stop them. The Taliban used civilians as human shields, according to Ibrahim, and the ensuing violence killed four Taliban fighters and four civilians, including a woman and a child, and left four other civilians injured.

“I was traveling from Balkh to Qarqin district of Jawzjan when the Taliban, covering their heads, pulled over three vehicles in Farod Qala area of Mardyan district,” said Sharifullah, who was injured in the incident.

— Tamkin

KANDAHAR: Seven insurgents were killed in a security operation in the Zheri district of southern Kandahar province, police said on Tuesday. Another 25 suspected militants were detained during a clean-up operation in the Nalgham area on Monday, the acting police chief, Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The suspects were being questioned, he said, adding that a Walkie-Talkie and four Kalashnikov assault rifles had been recovered from the dead militants. Raziq also said 40 mines were detected and defused in the area.

The governor’s office confirmed the operation, saying 200 kilograms of explosives were also seized.

KAPISA: Two civilians were killed during the clash between militants and police in central Kapisa province, District Police Chief Col. Padshah Gul Bakhtyar told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The civilians were killed during in the Shahkot area. The ISAF media office in Kabul confirmed the incident but said it had no information about civilian casualties.

— Bakhtar Safi

KUNDUZ: The quick reaction force commander of Kunduz province has survived a roadside bombing, an official said on Tuesday. Also in Kunduz, a combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader along with his two associates during a nighttime operation, ISAF said on Tuesday.

A remote-controlled roadside bomb destroyed Commander Abdullah Guard’s vehicle while he was en route to his office around 7:30 am in the Naseri area the province, Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, the provincial police spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility and contradicted official accounts, saying that two policemen had been killed in the blast.

Meanwhile the Afghan-led security force, following several tips, located the IMU leader at a compound. He attempted to disguise himself as a female by wearing a burqa, but the force was able to identify and detain him, the statement said. 

— Waheedullah

NANGARHAR: Unidentified arsonists set fire to a girls’ school in eastern Nangarhar province, the governor’s spokesman, Ahmadzai Abdulzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The incident took place around midnight in the Hafezan area of Chaparhar district, he said.

The provincial Education Department spokesman, Mohammad Asaf Shenwari, said the assailants tied up the hands of the school’s guards and then set the school ablaze.

— Abdul Moueed Hashami 

NIMROZ: A Taliban commander and 10 of his fighters were killed in an air strike by US-led coalition troops in the southwestern province of Nimroz, an official said on Tuesday. Also in Nimroz, two men including an Iranian citizen were detained from the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on charges of abducting a teenage boy.

The air strike took place on Monday evening between the Landi and Pashta Hasan areas of Khashrod district, Provincial Police Chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabar Purdali told Pajhwok Afghan News. Three Pakistani, two Arab, and five Afghan fighters were killed in addition to commander Mullah Abdul Hakim, he said.

The alleged abductors were apprehended in Zaranj City while reportedly trying to retrieve 30 million Iranian rial’s from the kidnapped boy’s parents.

— Ramin

URUZGAN: Three Taliban insurgents were killed by their own explosives, three members of the Afghan National Security Forces were injured, and one Statistics Department official was injured in separate incidents in the central province of Uruzgan on Monday.

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier and two local policemen were injured on Monday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Khas Uruzgan district, Col. Gulab Khan, the provincial crime branch chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The three Taliban fighters were killed in the Sangisar area of the district, he said.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and injured the Statistics Department official at 7:00 am when he was on his way to his office in Tirinkot City, the provincial capital, Khan said.

— Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak

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