Insurgents Killed, Detained in Kandahar

11/8/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office
ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan
2010-11-CA-102 1215
 KABUL, Afghanistan (Nov. 8, 2010) -

Numerous (Taliban fighters, referred to by NATO editors as insurgents) were killed and detained during a combined Afghan National Security and International Security Assistance Forces deliberate operation in the Arghistan district of Kandahar province, Sunday.

 The operation lasted more than 18 hours and resulted in more than 15 insurgents killed (Taliban fighters), 14 detained and numerous weapons, ammunition and explosives confiscated.

 The combined force confiscated nine motorcycles, one Russian mine, three PKMs (general purpose machine gun), one AK-47, three 81mm heat rounds, 900 rounds of PKM ammo, three chest rigs, three rocket propelled grenade heads, four RPG boosters, six AK-47 magazines and one video camera.

 No members of the combined force were wounded or killed during the operation.

LA Times, November 8, 2010 | 12:50 pm

Two more Marines from Camp Pendleton have been killed during combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Monday.

Staff Sgt. Jordan Emrick, 26, of Washington, Ill., was killed Friday. Lance Cpl. Randy Braggs, 21, of Sierra Vista, Ariz., was killed Saturday.

Twenty-two Marines from Camp Pendleton have been killed in Afghanistan since late July.

Emrick was assigned to the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton. He deployed to Iraq in 2008.

Braggs, a rifleman, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton. He was on his first combat deployment.

--Tony Perry in San Diego

More bodies of missing Afghan policemen recovered after apparent Taliban attack

By Greg Jaffe and Joshua Partlow, Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, November 7, 2010; 8:15 PM

Afghan authorities have recovered the bodies of five of the 16 policemen who went missing a week ago after an apparent Taliban attack on their remote base in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Sunday.

The discovery of the bodies is the latest suggestion that the policemen did not defect willingly, as some Afghan officials initially suspected, but in fact were captured by Taliban fighters.

Their bodies were found in Wardak, a province in eastern Afghanistan that borders Ghazni, where they disappeared Nov. 1. A spokesman for Wardak's provincial governor, Shahidullah Shahid, said the policemen, still in uniform, were shot to death and would be returned home for a funeral. The corpses of four of the missing policemen were found earlier, leaving seven still unaccounted for.

The incident, which led to the disappearance of an entire district's police force, underscores the challenge facing U.S. and Afghan officials as they try to extend the reach of the Afghan government and security forces to some of the most remote and inaccessible districts of the country. In such areas, cellphone service is sporadic or nonexistent. Bad roads prevent Afghan government officials from visiting. Even determining the fate of 16 policemen can be difficult.

Initial reports from Afghan officials and a Taliban spokesman suggested that the police force in Khogeyani district switched sides to the Taliban. Shortly after the station fell, a Taliban spokesman touted the defections as proof that the insurgent movement was winning new converts.

After U.S. officials visited the area, they said it appeared more likely that the police had been driven from the station by Taliban forces aided by an infiltrator who opened the gates.

Partlow reported from Kabul. Special correspondent Javed Hamdard in Kabul contributed to this report.