Daily Security Brief: October 23, 2011

KABUL-led forces in Panjwai and Kajaki districts over the past 24 hours.

Weapons and ammunitions, including one Kalashnikov, two pistols, 2,500 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, 132 kg of explosives and 43 kg of hashish were recovered.

The Ministry of Defence said two Afghan soldiers were killed and four others wounded during operations in Ghazni, Zabul and Farah provinces. It said a militant group leader was detained and weapons were recovered from him. The soldiers also defused five roadside bombs in the provinces.

–Khwaja Basir Ahmad

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HELMAND: Seven militants, including two local commanders, were detained with arms and explosives in southern Helmand province, officials said on Sunday. Shown to media representatives by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, the detainees allegedly planned attacks on several areas of the city.

But intelligence operatives acted in time to bust the insurgent group, scuttling possible assaults, said one NDS official, who did not want to be named. Five militants were arrested in the provincial capital and the two commanders — Mullah Ahmad Shah Baidar and Qari Shah Muhammad — in Nad Ali district with two motorbikes.

—-Zainullah Stanikzai

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MAIDAN WARDAK: At least a dozen civilians were injured when two mortar shells hit a mosque recitation ceremony, Shahidullah Shahid, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Resident Mohammad Anwar, who was slightly wounded in the attack, said the victims, some of them in critical condition, were taken to hospital. The critically wounded people were referred to Kabul after being administered first aid. Syedajan, another resident of the area, said the shells were fired from a Taliban-controlled area. But Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said he was unaware of the incident.

–Farid Karimi

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KABUL: Border police at the Kabul International Airport arrested a man trying to smuggle 63 heroin-filled capsules inside his stomach to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an official said on Sunday. The capsules, containing about 505 grams of heroin, were recovered from the smuggler identified as Mohammad Nabi, son of Mohammad Sharif, a resident of Laghman province, crime branch officer, Col. Gul Ahmad, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Nabi would not confess to his crime even after an X-Ray report revealed the hidden drugs in his stomach. The detainee was handed over to counter-narcotics officials, the police official said.

–Khwaja Basir Ahmad

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NANGARHAR:Unidentified gunmen killed the marketing manager of a private telecommunication company in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a resident said on Sunday. Zabihullah, the marketing manager of Roshan, was abducted in the Taril area of Chaparhar district three days back, resident Abdul Basir told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The victim, son of a tribal elder, was buried after his body was found. Malik Wilayat Khan, Zabihullah’s father, said that they had no personal enmity. Chaparhar district chief, Mualim Mashuq, confirmed the incident, saying the tribal elder had enmity with no one.

–Abdul Mueed Hashmi

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