2012-03-S-018
For Immediate Release

KABUL, Afghanistan (Mar. 17) — An Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of an insurgent leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Shirin Tagab district, Faryab province, today.

The leader plans and conducts attacks against coalition troops throughout northern Afghanistan and is suspected in plotting an attack against a senior Afghan official.

Initially, Afghan troops conducted a call-out of the occupants of the building where the insurgents were suspected to be hiding. Women and children came out of the building followed by one man with an AK-47 rifle. The armed insurgent fired on the security force from behind the women and children. Two other insurgents fired at the security force, one from inside the building and the other from a nearby tent. The security force returned fire, killing the three armed aggressors.

One Afghan civilian female was wounded during the exchange. A coalition helicopter evacuated her, along with her husband, to a medical facility for treatment where she is listed in stable condition.

The security force killed one additional insurgent, wounded another, and detained several.