US and Afghan forces continue to target the deadly Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan. A series of raids and a clash with the terror network in Ghazni and Logar provinces resulted in 22 fighters killed and two senior commanders captured.

The raids against the Haqqani Network in Khost and Ghazni took place over the course of the past several days.

Last night, an Afghan and Coalition force conducted what the US military described as "a complex mission" in the Giro District of Ghazni province designed to "to disrupt the Taliban network's operational and logistical support lines of ambush units in the region."

The combined force took fire when they raided a Haqqani Network compound and seized a cache of weapons and materials to make bombs. The force returned fire which resulted in "several enemy killed and one enemy wounded, and four more captured " the US military said.

"A number of armed militants fled the compound and were pursued by detachments of the force and killed," the US military continued. The Afghan military claimed 22 Haqqani Network fighters were killed.

Afghan and US forces also conducted raids on three compounds in Ghazni on July 7 in an effort to disrupt "a key Haqqani commander's attacks on coalition bases, assassination attempts of Afghan government officials, and the flow of foreign fighters and weapons into the region." The US military said "several" Haqqani fighters were killed but did not say how many.

US and Afghan forces also raided two Haqqani Network compounds about six miles south of Khost City on July 9. Two Haqqani Network leaders and four associates were captured.

Yesterday's raids in Khost and Ghazni coincided with a devastating bombing in neighboring Logar province. The Taliban rigged a truck loaded with firewood with a massive amount of explosives, overturned the truck, and detonated when police attempted to clear the crash. Thirteen schoolchildren and four policemen were among 25 killed in the attack, which bears the signature of the Haqqani Network.

Haqqani Network and Mullah Sangeen in the crosshairs

The raids and the Logar bombing were preceded by an assault on a US outpost in Paktika province on July 4. US troops beat back the complex attack and killed 10 Haqqani fighters.

The assault was carried out by members of the Haqqani Network under the command of Mullah Sangeen Zadran. The assault force may have been backed up by the Shadow Army, or Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's paramilitary army that operates along the Afghan and Pakistani border.

The Haqqani Network and Sangeen have been behind some of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan. The Haqqanis receive direct support from elements within Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency and military.

Mullah Sangeen is a senior lieutenant to Sirajuddin Haqqani and the commander of the Haqqani forces in Paktika province. A US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal that Sangeen also commands forces outside of Paktika and has become one of the most dangerous operational commanders in eastern Afghanistan.

Sangeen took credit for the kidnapping of a US soldier who apparently stepped away from his post at a combat outpost in Paktika on June 30. US forces in eastern Afghanistan have launched a massive manhunt for the soldier.

But the soldier may have already been moved into North Waziristan in Pakistan, where the Haqqani Network controls a large swath of territory.

Over the past month, the US military has targeted Siraj, Sangeen, and the Haqqani Network during a series of raids and airstrikes in both Afghanistan and Pakistan [see LWJ report, Coalition strikes at Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan].

Sangeen was almost captured during a May 28 raid on a Haqqani fortress in Paktika province, and on June 23, both Siraj and Sangeen were the targets of US Predator airstrikes inside the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan in Pakistan. Since June 27, the US military has killed and captured dozens of Haqqani Network fighters and a mid-level commander during raids and airstrikes in Paktika, Paktia, and Khost provinces.