|
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Sept. 15, 2005 – A U.S. servicemember was injured when an improvised explosive device struck a joint Afghan National Army and coalition forces patrol Sept. 14 south of Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, military officials reported today.
The ensuing firefight left four enemy fighters confirmed dead, officials said. The injured U.S. servicemember was taken here for treatment and was reported to be in stable condition. The attack occurred while the patrol conducted a joint offensive operation in the area, officials said. The IED strike was accompanied by small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire from an unknown number of enemy. The patrol chased the attackers after they retreated, and detained five people in a village near the IED site. Coalition attack planes provided air support to the troops on the ground, and Apache helicopters provided cover for the medical evacuation of the injured servicemember. The detained suspects had grenades and machine-gun ammunition in their possession, officials said, and they remain in coalition custody for questioning. In other offensive operations around Afghanistan on Sept. 14, Afghan security forces discovered an IED southeast of Qalat, in the Zabul province, on a road being built to connect Shinkay to Qalat. Explosive ordnance personnel from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne), destroyed the pressure-plated IED in place. Also near Qalat, two people were detained for possessing IED-making material. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne), recovered explosives, money, electronics, wire, wire cutters and Afghan National Police identification cards. The suspects are in the battalion's custody at its forward operating base near Qalat. In operations aimed at disrupting enemy activity in eastern Afghanistan, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, detained three people Sept. 14 suspected of manufacturing bombs near Gardez in the Nangarhar province. A current detainee had divulged their operation and location, officials said. They are being questioned in the custody of the Afghan's National Directorate for Security in Gardez. Battalion soldiers also discovered an IED on a road near a Joint Election Management Bureau compound in the northern Wardak province Sept. 14 and cordoned off the area. Afghan explosive ordnance personnel detonated the IED. No injuries or damage were reported. (From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)
|
