Operations break up bomb-making network

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, March 17 (UPI) -- Recent coalition forces operations in Afghanistan's volatile Khowst and Helmand provinces broke up a militant bomb-making network.

Officials say the operations led to the death of a number of armed militants and the detention of several other militant suspects including the arrest of a suspect linked to bomb-making operations in the region. During the first of two incidents a suspect who initially complied with coalition troops' instructions engaged the coalition forces with a second person armed with an assault rifle, Combined Joint Task Force 82 reported.

"Every attempt was made to resolve the situation without the use of force," Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition forces spokesperson, said in a statement. "However, the individuals made threatening gestures and presented an imminent threat. Coalition forces responded in self-defense, engaging and killing the armed individual. Regrettably, the second person then reached for the weapon and was killed as well."

Officials say in a second incident, coalition forces detained three individuals for their suspected involvement in IED-making operations in the Nahri Sarraj District of Helmand province.

"Eliminating the IED threat generated by militant operations is a huge concern," Belcher said. "To that end, coalition forces are continuing to degrade militant operations so their indiscriminate weapons cannot be used against the Afghan people, Afghanistan's security forces, or their coalition partners."