Posted on 05/15/2006 5:15:14 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2006 – Afghan civilians were injured by rockets today in Bermel, Afghanistan, and Afghan and coalition forces detained seven terrorists during a combined operation yesterday, military officials reported. The civilians were injured when two rockets were fired at a coalition forward operating base in the town of Bermel in Paktika province. An Afghan woman and child near the forward operating base suffered shrapnel wounds and are being treated by coalition forces.
"The extremists, who targeted coalition forces and wounded these innocent civilians, committed an atrocious act. Rockets are indiscriminate killers used by the enemy who care nothing for the Afghan people," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76. "We want the Afghans injured in the attack to know that Afghan National Army and coalition forces will stop at nothing to bring the individuals responsible for this brutal attack to justice."
The Afghan-coalition operation yesterday, which resulted in the apprehension of seven terrorist facilitators, was conducted in the Khowst region near the village of Sawazak Kala. The purpose was to detain individuals suspected of terrorist and anti-Afghanistan activities, officials said.
The individuals detained are associated with and actively support the Haqqani, or "HQ," network by providing roadside bomb training, officials said. Additionally, they are suspected of roadside bomb construction and emplacement as well as being participants during attacks on coalition and Afghan forces.
Four compounds and 13 structures were entered during the operation. Only men of military age were questioned. The only items removed from the locations were suspicious effects directly related to the seven detainees. These items will be used in further investigations.
The targets of the operation, two key roadside bomb manufacturers, were among the seven detained.
(Compiled from Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases.)
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