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ISAF kills Lashkar-e-Taiba's leader for Kunar in airstrike
By BILL ROGGIO, June 30, 2012
Coalition and Afghan special operations forces killed the leader of the al Qaeda-linked, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, during an airstrike yesterday in the remote eastern province Kunar.
Khatab Shafiq, "the LeT's [Lashkar-e-Taiba's] senior leader in Kunar province," and numerous "insurgents" were killed during two airstrikes in Kunar's Watahpur district yesterday, the International Security Assistance Force said in a press release.
"[T]he security force engaged the insurgents with a precision airstrike away from all civilian structures," ISAF said. "After the strike, the Afghan and coalition security force conducted a follow-on assessment and confirmed Khatab Shafiq, along with multiple other insurgents, had been killed." The special operations force directed a second airstrike after identifying "several more armed insurgents in the immediate area." ISAF said that no civilians were killed in either strike.
Shafiq's "country of origin was Pakistan," a spokesman for ISAF's Joint Command Media Operations told The Long War Journal.
ISAF said that Shafiq "was responsible for several attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, and provided money, weapons and training to insurgents in the region." He also "established multiple insurgent training camps in eastern Afghanistan, where insurgents learned how to use mortars, rockets and machine guns. Most recently, he was involved with teaching insurgents how to build and emplace improvised explosive devices."
Shafiq is the second leader of a foreign terror group killed in Watahpur in Kunar in the past month. On May 28, Sakhr al Taifi, a Saudi al Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim, and another unnamed al Qaeda fighter were killed in an airstrike in the Watahpur district. Taifi is said to have served as al Qaeda's second-in-command for Afghanistan. That same day, ISAF targeted another al Qaeda leader in an airstrike in the Dangam district in Kunar.
For years, the rugged, remote Afghan province of Kunar has served as a sanctuary for al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and allied terror groups. The presence of al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba cells has been detected in the districts of Asmar, Asadabad, Dangam, Marawana, Pech, Shaikal Shate, Sarkani, Shigal, and Watahpur; or nine of Kunar's 15 districts, according to press releases issued by the International Security Assistance Force that have been compiled by The Long War Journal.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has been directly identified by ISAF as operating in Afghanistan one other time, in July 2010, when it reported the capture of a Taliban commander who is tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba operations in Khugyani district in Nangarhar province.
Read more: ISAF kills Lashkar-e-Taiba's leader for Kunar in airstrike - The Long War Journal
By BILL ROGGIO, June 30, 2012
Coalition and Afghan special operations forces killed the leader of the al Qaeda-linked, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, during an airstrike yesterday in the remote eastern province Kunar.
Khatab Shafiq, "the LeT's [Lashkar-e-Taiba's] senior leader in Kunar province," and numerous "insurgents" were killed during two airstrikes in Kunar's Watahpur district yesterday, the International Security Assistance Force said in a press release.
"[T]he security force engaged the insurgents with a precision airstrike away from all civilian structures," ISAF said. "After the strike, the Afghan and coalition security force conducted a follow-on assessment and confirmed Khatab Shafiq, along with multiple other insurgents, had been killed." The special operations force directed a second airstrike after identifying "several more armed insurgents in the immediate area." ISAF said that no civilians were killed in either strike.
Shafiq's "country of origin was Pakistan," a spokesman for ISAF's Joint Command Media Operations told The Long War Journal.
ISAF said that Shafiq "was responsible for several attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, and provided money, weapons and training to insurgents in the region." He also "established multiple insurgent training camps in eastern Afghanistan, where insurgents learned how to use mortars, rockets and machine guns. Most recently, he was involved with teaching insurgents how to build and emplace improvised explosive devices."
Shafiq is the second leader of a foreign terror group killed in Watahpur in Kunar in the past month. On May 28, Sakhr al Taifi, a Saudi al Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim, and another unnamed al Qaeda fighter were killed in an airstrike in the Watahpur district. Taifi is said to have served as al Qaeda's second-in-command for Afghanistan. That same day, ISAF targeted another al Qaeda leader in an airstrike in the Dangam district in Kunar.
For years, the rugged, remote Afghan province of Kunar has served as a sanctuary for al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and allied terror groups. The presence of al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba cells has been detected in the districts of Asmar, Asadabad, Dangam, Marawana, Pech, Shaikal Shate, Sarkani, Shigal, and Watahpur; or nine of Kunar's 15 districts, according to press releases issued by the International Security Assistance Force that have been compiled by The Long War Journal.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has been directly identified by ISAF as operating in Afghanistan one other time, in July 2010, when it reported the capture of a Taliban commander who is tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba operations in Khugyani district in Nangarhar province.
Read more: ISAF kills Lashkar-e-Taiba's leader for Kunar in airstrike - The Long War Journal
