Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46662
Afghan, Coalition Forces Detain Militants, Thwart Ambush
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 8, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces detained six suspected militants today during an operation designed to disrupt the facilitation of insurgent attacks against the Afghan government, military officials said.
Credible intelligence led the forces to a compound in the Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province suspected to harbor anti-coalition militants. Six suspects were detained for questioning about their involvement in insurgent activities.
“Afghan and coalition forces will continue to work together to purge the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan of militants who attempt to undermine the peace,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman. “The insurgents are fighting a losing battle.”
Officials said no shots were fired during the operation and no one was injured.
Meanwhile, Afghan security forces supported by coalition forces defeated an attempted Taliban ambush near the village of Danjabad, in Farah province, July 6.
Military officials said Taliban insurgents engaged a combined Afghanistan National Army and Afghan National Police patrol from fortified positions with heavy machine guns, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The Afghan forces returned fire and countered the attack.
Five Afghan troops were wounded in the operation. More than 30 insurgent fighters were killed by accurate small-arms fire and precision air strikes, officials said.
“All fires were directed by the ground force commander, who carefully evaluated risk of collateral damage against the military necessity, and controlled by a qualified coalition force joint tactical air controller,” Belcher said. “It is important to note that many targets were not bombed or fired on due to Afghan national security force and coalition force precautions against causing collateral damage.”
No civilian casualties were reported during the engagement, officials said.
(Compiled from Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)
Several key aides to the leader of Afghanistan's Taleban rebels, Mullah Omar, are reported to have been arrested in Pakistan. An Afghan intelligence source told the BBC four senior associates of Mullah Omar were being held after operations by Pakistani security forces. The arrests took place in two areas of the city of Quetta in western Pakistan.
The source said those arrested included two men responsible for Mullah Omar's letters and communications. They have been named as Mullah Jahangir and Mullah Mohid. Others now in detention are said to be Mullah Nazir, who was Taleban commander in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and Mullah Tahir, the former Taleban commander for the capital, Kabul.
Afghanistan observers say these four men were all close to the reclusive Mullah Omar, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
In the past year or more, there have been rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some senior Afghan leaders accused their neighbour of letting the Taleban use its soil, including Quetta, as a sanctuary. Pakistan denies such accusations and four months ago it arrested another key Taleban leader, Mullah Obaidullah, on its own soil.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6281886.stm
Wanted men 'control Red Mosque'
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Pakistan's religious affairs minister has said wanted Islamic militants are in control of a besieged mosque in the capital, Islamabad. Ejaz-ul-Haq said the militants were "hardened terrorists" holding women and children hostage inside the Red Mosque.
SNIP:Mr ul-Haq told the BBC that between two and five of the militants were wanted in connection with "high-profile cases". He said the militants had complete control inside the mosque, and that Abdul Rashid Ghazi was being used as a figurehead.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6282084.stm
CD's seized from bomb suspect's house (India)
July 09, 2007
INDIAN police said today they had seized CDs containing 'radical materials' from the homes of two suspects held over the failed British car bombings. "They were found in the houses of Kafeel Ahmed and his brother Sabeel and we believe these CDs contain material on Islamic military movements in various nations,'' a top police officer said in the southern city of Bangalore.
"These are radical stuff,'' he said as sources added the data contained on at least two seized CDs related to the conflicts in Chechnya and Iraq. The two brothers are among three Indians arrested in Britain for the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow. They hail from the middle-class district of Jayanagar in Bangalore, India's software capital.
Police said they were also studying the database at the transport office in Jayanagar from where they had found the driving licence details of a man who rammed a flaming car into Glasgow airport on June 30. Officers said they were interested in a man named as Saleem Ahmed, adding investigators were also probing the possibility that fake Bangalore driving licences were used in the bomb plot.
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