JALALABAD (PAN): NATO-led troops detained 22 people, including a school principal and students, during an operation in eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday, officials said.
Several education department employees and pupils were among the individuals being held without charge, one security official confided to Pajhwok Afghan News.
The predawn operation was conducted in the Shulani village of Chaparhar district, confirmed a spokesman for the department. Mohammad Asif Shinwari.
Villager Haji Asif insisted all detainees were civilians with no links to militants. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers raided a number of civilian homes in the area, he alleged.
District chief, Mohammad Siddique, declined commenting on the operation, but security officials said some detainees had been freed, while others remained imprisoned.
Afghan troops, advised by coalition forces, detained 14 insurgents during a clearing operation in the Geratek village of Chaparhar, ISAF said.
The objective behind the operation was to disrupt a Taliban staging area for indirect fire and improvised explosive device attacks, the NATO-led force added.