In Several Joint Clearance Operations, 35 Suspects Arrested (Jan.02.2013.)

Publish Date: Jan 02, 2013

In Several Joint Clearance Operations, 35 Suspects Arrested

Counterterrorism:

During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army, NDS and Coalition Forces launched 12 joint clearance operations in Baghlan, Kunduz, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Khost, Farah and Helmand provinces.

As a result of these operations, one armed Talib was killed and 35 suspects were arrested by Afghan National Security Forces.

Also, during these operations, Afghan National Police discovered and confiscated five different types of weapons, 73 mortar rounds, 29 different types of mines, four hand grenades and an explosives-laden vehicle.

During the same 24 hour period, Afghan National Police discovered and defused four drums full of explosives and four missiles which were placed by the enemies of peace and stability in Zabul and Nimroz provinces.

 

Crimes:
The 101 Kabul Zone National Police detained nine suspects accused of murder and theft in the 8th and 9th Districts of Kabul-City yesterday.

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Taliban commander Turabi among eight freed in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Authorities in Pakistan have released eight more members of the Afghan Taliban, in a move hailed as significant for peace talks to end a decade-old war in Afghanistan.

Media reports Tuesday said those released in Pakistan include at least two former ministers and four provincial governors of an erstwhile Taliban regime that was ousted by a US-led military invasion following Sep 11, 2001 terror attacks in America.

Ex justice minister Mullah Nooruddin Turabi and former personal bodyguard of elusive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, Muhammad Azeem, were among the leaders released Monday, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

The intelligence official said that Azeem is an important figure who was once very close to Omar.

Pakistan media reports citing Taliban sources said Turabi was also close to Omar when the Taliban were in power.

"He belongs to Kandahar. He spent most of his time in Kandahar and Quetta when the Taliban regime was toppled by the US. He was arrested by the Pakistani security agencies from Karachi five years ago," a senior Taliban commander was quoted as saying.

Turabi is said to have lost his right leg and suffered an injury to his eye in the Afghan war against Soviet forces.

Pakistan had earlier released 18 Afghan Taliban militants in November. They were freed after US and Afghanistan insisted that it will help promote reconciliation ahead of NATO combat troops withdrawing by the end of 2014.

US and Afghanistan want to revive peace talks with the Taliban as members of the Afghan government's High Peace Council and some of its allies met Taliban representatives in a preliminary meeting near Paris last month.

Afghan peace negotiators welcomed the release and hailed the move as a significant boost in efforts to end 11 years of war in Afghanistan.

The High Peace Council, set up to conduct negotiations with the Taliban, said on Tuesday that the release was in support of the talks.

"It is a practical step in the right direction," said Ismail Qasimyar, head of international relations for the peace council.

"It shows the Pakistani authorities have opened a new chapter for positive co-operation with Afghanistan.

"Pakistan can play an important role in bringing peace to Afghanistan. We welcome this move and hope those freed will become peace messengers," he said.

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, senior peace council member, told the Reuters news agency that Kabul hoped to transform the Afghan Taliban into a political movement.

"I think one consensus was that everybody acknowledged that nobody will win by military [means]," said Stanekzai, who was badly wounded in a 2011 Taliban suicide bombing attack.

from  Afghanistan News.Net
Tuesday 1st January, 2013

Related articles

• Afghans say prisoner releases offer peace hopes (pakistan.onepakistan.com.pk)
• Pakistan releases four more Afghan Taliban prisoners (dawn.com)
• Pakistan releases top Taliban commanders (waronterrornews.typepad.com)

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Jan. 02., 2013. - ISAF Joint Command Operational Update

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader in Shah Wali Kot district, Kandahar province, Jan. 2.

The leader provided weapons and ammunition to insurgent fighters in central Arghandab and southwest Shah Wali Kot districts, and planned and coordinated improvised explosive device attacks targeting Afghan and coalition forces.

During the operation, the security force also seized IED-making materials.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

South

An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader in Panjwa’i district, Kandahar province, Jan. 1. The leader directed improvised explosive device operations in Zharay and Panjwa’i districts. He also provided supplies, weapons and ammunition to insurgents for use in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout Kandahar province.

East

In Pul-e ‘Alam district, Logar province, Jan. 2, an Afghan and coalition security force arrested a member of the Haqqani network who planned and executed attacks against Afghan government officials as well as Afghan and coalition forces. He was also responsible for the movement of weapons and provided funds to Haqqani fighters operating in Pul-e ‘Alam district.

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Jan. 02., 2013. - RC-East operational update

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces located one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours, Jan. 1.

Parwan Province
Afghan National Army soldiers and coalition forces discovered a weapons cache in Bagram District. The cache contained multiple mortars and mines.

Operations in RC-East are ongoing.

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Nigerian army says 14 die in gun battle with Boko Haram

(Reuters) - Nigeria's military killed 13 members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and lost one soldier on Tuesday in a gun battle in Maiduguri, the group's northeastern stronghold, the army said.

Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, killed hundreds last year in a campaign to impose sharia, or Islamic law, in Nigeria, a country of more than 160 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

At least 32 people have now died in the northeast in the last week alone in violence presumed to be linked to Islamist militancy, the biggest threat to stability in Africa's main oil exporter.

"One soldier was killed by Boko Haram while the JTF killed 13 Boko Haram," Sagir Musa, spokesman for the military Joint Task Force, said on Tuesday.

The military in the northeast have in the past played down their own casualties in fighting with Boko Haram.

Musa said members of the sect had detonated a bomb at a JTF checkpoints in Maiduguri, and that all the deaths had occurred in the ensuing gun battle.

Maiduguri, a remote dusty town close to the borders of Chad and Niger, has been a hotbed of violence, directed mostly at the security forces, since Boko Haram took up arms in 2009.

Boko Haram's insurgency intensified after Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian, was elected president in April 2011.

Jonathan has been unable to stop the rebellion despite waves of military offensives in the northeast and other parts of northern and central Nigeria where Boko Haram has a strong presence.

Western governments are increasingly concerned about Islamists in northern Nigeria linking up with outside groups, including al Qaeda's north African wing.

The Islamist group Ansaru, known to have ties with Boko Haram, appears to have become more active in recent weeks. It claimed an attack on a major police barracks in the capital Abuja last month, where it said hundreds of prisoners had been released.

The group, which has been labelled a "terrorist group" by Britain, has also said it was behind the kidnapping of a French national last week.

from REUTERS
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria | Tue Jan 1, 2013 9:23pm GMT
(Reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Taliban leader Nurullah Khan killed in Kunduz province

A local Taliban leader was killed following a joint military operation by Afghan and coalition security forces in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) following a statement announced, “During a security operation in Imam Sahib district, Kunduz province, yesterday, an Afghan and coalition force killed the Taliban leader, Nurullah Khan, and one other insurgent.”

The source further added, “Nurullah Khan, also known as Shaker, transported and distributed weapons for insurgents in Kunduz province. At the time of his death, Nurullah Khan was coordinating the movement of explosives for use in a future improvised explosive device attack.”

Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader in Khanabad district, Kunduz province, ISAF following the statement adding that the leader organized insurgent fighters and procured improvised explosive devices for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the district. He also provided IEDs and other weapons for insurgents in other areas of the province.

In a separate operation in Arghandab district, Kandahar province, yesterday, an Afghan and coalition security force arrested a local Taliban leader who coordinated improvised explosive device attacks and distributed IEDs and IED components to insurgents in the district, ISAF adding that during the operation, the security force also detained three suspected insurgents.

ISAF also added, during an operation in Khost district, Khost province, yesterday, an Afghan and coalition security force arrested the Haqqani leader who planned the Dec. 26 suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack against Forward Operating Base Chapman. At the time of his arrest, the leader was planning an SVBIED attack targeting Afghan and coalition forces. During the operation, the security force killed one insurgent.

Afghan and coalition security force arrested a local Haqqani leader in Sabari district, Khost province, ISAF said. The leader planned and executed direct fire and improvised explosive device attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, and oversaw the emplacement of IEDs in the district. During the operation, the security force detained several suspected insurgents and seized multiple weapons.

from KHAAMA
By Sadaf Shinwari - January 1 2013, 11:12 am

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