Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), with help from local villagers, have successfully disrupted attacks on their respective bases in eastern province of Kunar, an ISAF statement issued here Wednesday said.
"With information provided by Afghan citizens, ANSF and ISAF troops were able to engage an estimated 50 insurgents in nine different locations as they prepared to attack four ISAF and ANSF bases" in Kunar on March 9, it said.
The ISAF said the troops engaged the insurgents with small-arms fire, machine guns, mortars and artillery, with support from military helicopters and aircraft as well, adding, "The insurgents responded with small-arms fire, heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and mortars."
ISAF commanders on the scene confirmed several enemy killed and wounded, the statement said.
"For the first time since ISAF and ANA soldiers have operated in the area, members of a nearby village went to ISAF troops and confirmed the positions, plans for movement and weapons systems of insurgents they had seen in the area," it stressed.
"The villagers provided real-time information and confirmation on the insurgent activity," an unnamed ISAF spokesperson was quoted in the statement as saying.
A 43,000-strong multinational force are deployed to Afghanistan under the flag of NATO-led ISAF, fighting militants and assisting in the country's reconstruction.
According to officials, Afghan government forces and ISAF have been conducting a series of joint anti-militants offensive operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi Wednesday said that a March 9 joint operation in Kapisa, a province north of Afghan capital Kabul, has left at least 10 insurgents killed and injured.
Source: Xinhua
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