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Coalition concludes Mountain Sweep in Afghanistan

by Capt. Tim Beninato

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Army News Service, Aug. 5, 2002) - Coalition forces completed Operation Mountain Sweep in Southeastern Afghanistan Aug. 26 with the repositioning of combat forces.

"The objective of Mountain Sweep was to find and destroy remaining al Qaeda elements in that area, search for weapons or usable intelligence data for Coalition forces and project combat power into the area to deny the enemy sanctuary there," said Col. Roger King, Combined Joint Task Force - 180 public affairs officer.

Mountain Sweep took place over eight days and included five combat air assault missions and three major convoy road marches to various objectives in the region.

"It was a successful mission and all soldiers executed professionally," said Maj. Donald G. Fallen, operations officer for the 229th Aviation Regiment.

The 229th, serving as the aviation arm for Task Force Shark, conducted 14 helicopter missions in support of the operation.

More than 2,000 Coalition forces, consisting of seven infantry companies, combat engineers and elements of three aviation battalions, took part in the operation, King said. In addition, Civil Affairs, Coalition Special Operations Forces units and Afghan militia also participated in the operation.

Coalition forces took 10 persons under control during the operation and though taken under fire on two occasions, U.S. forces suffered no battle casualties, said King.

Initial reports indicate Coalition forces discovered a total of seven caches, including five weapons caches and two filled with Taliban documents.

The weapons caches consisted of one ZSU 23-1 anti-aircraft weapon, two 82mm mortars with 120 rounds, one recoilless rifle with 15 rounds, five cases of 81mm mortar rounds, 100 BM-21 rockets, seven cans of 12.7mm DHSK machine gun ammunition, 4,000 rounds of 14.5mm heavy machine gun ammunition, several loose small arms and crates of ammunition of various calibers.

"Some of the unique aspects of these caches were that seven women in the village of Narizah were found to be carrying nine RPG rounds hidden under their burkhas," said King.

In addition, one of the caches containing mortar rounds was booby-trapped with improvised explosive devices and had to be blown in place by explosive ordnance disposal specialists.

(Editor's note: Capt. Tim Beninato commands the 28th Public Affairs Detachment)