Daily Security Brief: July 3, 2011

KHOST: One insurgent was killed, three insurgents injured, and three civilians injured when insurgents attacked a civilian home in the southeastern province of Khost, according to a statement from the provincial media office.

On Saturday night in the Ganda Khola area of the Do Manda district, militants torched a truck parked in front of the house. Gen. Oriakhel, the Tender military corps commander, said that area residents and the Afghan National Army cooperated to retaliate against the insurgents, killing one and wounding three in the process. The provincial media office statement said that the injured rebels had been entrusted to local authorities in the district.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Taliban supply convoy trucks and confirmed the death of one fighter.

— Mali Khan Yaqubi

KUNDUZ: Five militants have been killed in separate incidents in the Dash-i-Archi district of northern Kunduz province, officials said on Sunday.

Foreign troops raided a house in the Haji Sarfaraz village on Saturday night, killing four people, the district chief, Sheikh Sadruddin, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

In a statement, ISAF confirmed carrying out an operation in the area and said that some militants were killed. Sadruddin said the dead were militants planning insurgent attacks.

He also said a suspected bomb maker was killed in the same district during a clash with police.

— Wahidullah

NANGARHAR: One insurgent was killed, three injured and two others arrested during a joint operation by Afghan and international forces in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an official said on Sunday.

The pre-dawn operation was conducted in the town of Girdai Mena in Shirzad district, said the administrative head of the town, Asil Ahmad Khogyani.

The joint forces had air support during the offensive, which targeted a Taliban-designated chief for Hesark district. The targeted rebel leader, Maulvi Aminullah, was holding a meeting with his comrades when the attack occurred. Aminullah was able to escape along with two of his accomplices despite sustaining injuries, the official said.

ISAF’s press office in the east confirmed the operation, saying some casualties had been inflicted on the Taliban. It did not provide figures for the casualties.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Aminullah survived the air strike, adding that two local residents, Rahimullah and Lal Jan, were arrested by security forces.

— Abdul Mueed Hashimi

SAR-I-PUL: Two Taliban were killed, two injured and three others arrested in a battle between Taliban and Afghan security forces, an official said on Sunday.

The fighting broke out Saturday morning when security forces  were ambushed in the Nawafghan Valley in the Kohistanat district in the northern province of Sar-i-Pul.

A member of the National Directorate of Security told Pajhwok Afghan News that seven weapons were confiscated, including Kalashnikovs and machine guns. Afghan security forces suffered no casualties, the source said.

The Taliban have not commented on the incident.

The fighting came on the heels of a battle last month in the Sayad district of Sar-i-Pul that killed four Taliban, including a well-known commander.

— Ali Madani

URUZGAN: Two Australian soldiers were seriously injured in an accident in Tirinkot, the capital of central Uruzgan province, the Australian Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

The soldiers, serving with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, suffered shrapnel wounds and will be flown to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany for specialist care in the next few days, the ministry announced.

Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power, said the incident on Saturday was the result of an accident rather than an insurgent attack.

Australia has nearly 1,550 troops in Afghanistan based in Uruzgan province. So far 27 Australian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

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