The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said on Thursday that a leader of the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant group had been detained in a joint operation involving its troops and Afghan security forces.
In a statement posted on its website, the ISAF said he was captured in Jaji district of Paktiya province after a an extensive exchange of fire with insurgents. It said air support was called in after the combined forces came under attack from insurgents form inside and outside of the compound where he was hiding.
The coalition force said an inspection of the site showed that several insurgents were killed in the operation. Stressing that there were no civilian causalities, ISAF said the operation led to the arrests of several other insurgents as well as recovery of multiple weapons and grenades.
It said a Taliban facilitator, suspected of distributing weapons and ammunition to insurgents for attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces as well as plotting to infiltrate Afghan National Security Forces, was captured along with several other militants in another joint operation in the Dand district of Kandahar on Thursday.
The coalition force also announced the capture of two Taliban leaders in separate operations carried out in the Nad 'Ali district of Helmand province and the Zurmat district of Paktika province. The ISAF, however, did not name any of the insurgents captured on Thursday.
At present, there are over 130,000 foreign troops from more than 42 countries under the joint command of the NATO and the United States in Afghanistan to contain a resurgent Taliban in the war-torn South Asian country.
The U.S. and other allied nations involved in the Afghan mission are currently making serious efforts to get the Afghan security forces equipped to handle the country's security before the international coalition troops pull out by the end of 2014.
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