Daily Security Brief: January 25, 2012

FARAH: A tribal elder was gunned down by suspected militants in the Pushtrod district of western Farah province, an official said on Wednesday.

Haji Ghulam was shot dead in the Sang Galak area by two motorcyclists on his way home from Farah City late night on Tuesday, the district chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.  

Ghausuddin said the Taliban had threatened the elder to stop propagating against them. Security forces have started an investigation into the incident.

–Zahin

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ISLAMABAD: Six Pakistani soldiers and 10 insurgents were killed during a clash in the Kurram tribal region near the Afghanistan border on Wednesday.

A government official, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News that 13 Taliban militants were wounded during the gunbattle in the mountainous area.

After the clash, Pakistani troops took control of the area, said Eqbal Hussain, a resident of the Jogi village. The area is located between Kurram and Orakzai regions.

–Qaisar Yousafzai

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KABUL) servicemember was killed in an improvised explosive device attack in the Taliban’s southern heartland on Wednesday.

The death was announced in a brief statement from the NATO-led force that neither revealed the soldier’s nationality nor the exact location of the bombing in the restive south.

With the latest fatality, the death toll for foreign forces in Afghanistan this year has increased to 30, including 22 Americans. Last year, the deadliest for ISAF, 566 international soldiers were killed in the country.

–Pajhwok Report

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KABUL: An Iranian citizen was sentenced to 20 years in jail on the charge of drug trafficking, the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) said on Wednesday.

The accused was convicted at the end of an open trial on the basis of evidence against him, the CJTF spokesman, Ahmad Khalid Mowahid, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The man had been arrested with 90 kilograms heroines, which he wanted to smuggle into Iran through the Abresham Bridge in southwestern Nimroz province, he said.

Mowahid did not identify the man, but said the Iranian had confessed to his crime. He had visited Afghanistan four times to transfer drugs to Iran before his arrest.

Under the relevant law, the convict could move Supreme Court against the appellate court decision, he said.

–Khwaja Baser Ahmad

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KABUL: Thirteen insurgents were killed, six detained and nine others injured during joint operations in different provinces over the past 24 hours, defence and interior ministries said on Wednesday.

The operations were conducted by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance troops in Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces.

In a statement, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said 13 rebels were killed, nine wounded and six others detained. Two AK-47 assault rifles, one machine gun, one pistol, 14 anti-vehicle mines, more than 500 bullets and five kilograms of drugs were seized.

Additionally, security personnel found three anti-vehicle mines and explosives in Nangarhar, Laghman, Uruzgan, Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said one rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) with two shells, one machine gun, four AK-47 rifles and eight hand grenades were seized in the Pashtun Zarghoon district of Herat province.

A statement from the ministry said four Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed and six others wounded in the line of duty in Kandahar and Kapisa provinces.

–Pajhwok report

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KANDAHAR: Counternarcotics police seized 700 kilograms of opium in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, an official said on Wednesday.

The opium was recovered from a car in the Do Aab area, the governor’s spokesman, Zalmai Ayubi, told Pajhwok Afghan News. No one was arrested in connection with the drugs.

Ayubi said security forces had intensified efforts at arresting drug traffickers and preventing poppy cultivation this year.

Separately, police recovered nine mortar shells, six jerry canes full of explosives and a machinegun during a raid on a house in Daman district, according to Ayubi.

–Bashir Ahmad Nadem

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KAPISA: Three members of a family were killed and seven others injured when a mortar shell hit their house in the Alasai district of central Kapisa province on Wednesday, an official said.

The Taliban-fired mortar landed in the house of a nomadic family in the Alaqadari area, the town’s administrative head told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Mullah facility of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Tribal elder Taj Mohammad said mostly nomads had houses in the area. The mortar had been fired from a garden, he said, confirming the family lost three female members, with seven male members sustaining injuries.

–Bakhtar Safi

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