SOUTHWEST ASIA -- During a successful air strike May 8, Coalition aircraft killed four enemy extremists and destroyed a truck and cave complex in the Bermel District of Paktika Province. Coalition Forces suspect other insurgents may possibly be buried in the rubble.
Prior to the strike, a joint combat team of Afghan National Army and U.S. ground forces observed individuals loading a truck near the cave and determined the personnel were moving rockets from a cave complex.
The unit assessed the activity was linked to recent rocket attacks on a Coalition fire base nearby.
A request was made for air support to attack the complex. U.S. Air Force A-10 fighter aircraft and a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, assigned to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Afghanistan , were directed to engage the cave complex.
The A-10 and Predator expended precision-guided munitions against the target, effectively sealing the cave from future use.
“The immediate response by these aircraft demonstrates the effectiveness of our combined air support for joint operations in theater,” said Royal Air Force , Air Commodore Mark Swan, director of the Combined Air Operations Center.
“Our message is very clear to those who attack innocent civilians and Coalition forces: you have a choice,” Commodore Swan said. “If you continue your terrorist activities, we will find you, we can track you, and we will take all appropriate actions to stop you.”
A patrol sent to investigate the cave received small arms fire from one enemy combatant.
Coalition forces returned fire and captured the enemy combatant.
The patrol discovered two trucks near the cave. Inside the trucks, buried under gravel, were two 107mm rockets. Both vehicles were destroyed.
“This was a very successful joint combat operation with Afghan and Coalition forces as we continue to search out enemies and eliminate their capability to attack our forces,” said Lt. Col Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force - 76 spokesman.
“We believe these insurgents and this cache are linked to recent rocket attacks in Bermel,” said Fitzpatrick. “The crude use of rockets by insurgents often causes damage and injuries to innocent civilians like the April rocket attacks in Assadabad that killed seven children at a school and in Kabul that injured a guard at Radio Television Afghanistan.
“Destroying this cache protects the lives of Afghans as well as Coalition forces,” he said.
Coalition officials emphasized the strike is an example of the effective coordination between the Afghan and Pakistan armies being conducted along the border region to disrupt their common enemy.