Special operations forces capture IMU explosives expert

Special operations forces from the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan Army captured the top “explosives trainer” in northern Afghanistan for the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who recently moved into the country from Pakistan. From the ISAF press release:

Afghanistan – A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan explosives expert and one of his associates during an overnight operation in Kunduz District, Kunduz province, yesterday.

The explosives expert, who recently returned from Pakistan, was the lead insurgent explosives trainer in northern Afghanistan and an IMU liaison with the Taliban.

ISAF and Afghan forces continue to focus on the IMU. Of the 10 raids against terror groups directly allied with al Qaeda (excluding the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and HIG) that were reported by ISAF since the beginning of June, nine targeted the IMU. Five of those raids took place in Kunduz, two in the neighboring province of Baghlan, one in Balkh in the northwest, and one in Zabul in the southeast.

The last raid, on July 2 in the Chahar Darah district in Kunduz, resulted in the capture of an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader who “was directly responsible for coordinating and planning roadside bomb attacks against Afghan security forces.”

For more information on the IMU and recent raids, see LWJ report, Special operations forces capture burka-clad Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader in Afghan north.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Pakistan