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Key Senior Taliban Leaders Hunted in Coalition Strike

American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, May 27, 2006 – Coalition forces killed five extremists in a precision strike yesterday evening on an isolated insurgent training facility near the village of Qal'a Sak, in Helmand province.

Qal'a Sak village is near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Among those killed were key senior leaders of the Taliban network who had conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, Afghan officials, and civilians. The extremists were also responsible for the proliferation of materials used in improvised-explosive-device construction and employment that often resulted in deaths and injuries to numerous innocent citizens, U.S. officials said in a statement.

"This was a highly successful mission based on solid tactical intelligence and coordinated joint ground and indirect fires," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76, said. "Enemy leadership will continue to be targeted so long as they pose a threat to the security and stability of Afghanistan."

Coalition ground forces on the scene confirmed that damage was limited to the destruction of one targeted vehicle and two targeted buildings. There were no reports of injuries to civilians or damage to property.

A large cache was discovered at the target location. Two concealed fighting positions were also discovered, both containing explosives and heavy machine guns and were destroyed in place.

(From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/20060527_5261.html