Combined Force Captures Taliban Leaders

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2012 – An Afghan and coalition security force captured two Taliban leaders during an operation in the Lashkar Gah district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province today, military officials reported.

One leader planned attacks in Kandahar province, and the second conducted roadside-bomb and direct-fire attacks against coalition forces, officials said.

The security force also confiscated bomb-making materials and detained multiple suspected insurgents during the operation.

In other Afghanistan operations today:

-- In Helmand’s Marjah district, a combined force detained two suspects while searching for a Taliban weapons facilitator who acquires heavy weaponry and ammunition for insurgents.

-- An Afghan-led and coalition-supported force captured a Haqqani network facilitator, detained another suspected insurgent and seized bomb-making materials in the Terayzai district of Khost province. The facilitator coordinated roadside-bomb attacks against Afghan forces and moved rockets and explosives across the province.