KABUL, April 1 – Afghan security forces and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) defused 10 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in eastern Afghanistan, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing the ISAF’s statement on Monday.
“Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 10 improvised explosive devices, detained four suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours,” the ISAF’s Regional Command-East said in a press release.
The home-made bombs were neutralised in Khost, Paktika, Kunar, Logar and Laghman provinces, it added. The suspected insurgents were arrested in Khost and Logar provinces and transferred to coalition bases for questioning. Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency for more than one decade, used IEDs to launch roadside bomb attacks on security forces but the lethal weapons also inflicted casualties on civilians.
Separately, a local Taliban leader named Hodeer Khan and two others were killed and two insurgents were wounded in an airstrike by the coalition forces in Wata Pur district, Kunar province, provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Habib told Xinhua earlier Monday. The security forces have recently intensified operations across the country as spring and summer known as the fighting season is drawing near.
BERNAMA
