bobdina
11-10-2009, 06:12 PM
NATO: Huge cache of bomb material seized
Find in Afghanistan would have made hundreds of roadside explosives
updated 7:16 a.m. ET, Tues., Nov . 10, 2009
KABUL - International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer — enough to make up hundreds of roadside bombs, the Taliban's most lethal weapon in what has been the deadliest year of the war, NATO announced Tuesday.
Separately, video footage emerged of insurgents brandishing what appears to be stocks of U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan where eight Americans died in a battle last month.
NATO officials hoped Sunday's raid in the southern city of Kandahar would hurt Taliban militants, whose homemade bombs have become the biggest killer of U.S. and allied troops.
Acting on a tip, international forces and Afghan police discovered 1,000 100-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and 5,000 parts for roadside bombs in a warehouse, the military said. After the initial find Sunday, an additional 4,000 100-pound bags of fertilizer were found in a nearby compound. The joint forces also made 15 arrests.
The New York Times quoted officials as saying that that much fertilizer — more than 10 tractor-trailer loads — removed potentially thousands of bombs from the streets and trails of southern Afghanistan.
"You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter hours," Col. Mark Lee, who heads NATO’s effort to stop the bombmakers in southern Afghanistan, was quoted in the Times as saying. "This is a great first step."
John Pike, director of the military think tank Globalsecurity.org, had a lower estimate, saying the seizure included enough fertilizer to make dozens to a couple of hundred roadside bombs.
Fertilizer easy to get
The insurgents have been successful manufacturing homemade bombs from materials such as fertilizer, which is easily available in agricultural areas of the south.
I
Find in Afghanistan would have made hundreds of roadside explosives
updated 7:16 a.m. ET, Tues., Nov . 10, 2009
KABUL - International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer — enough to make up hundreds of roadside bombs, the Taliban's most lethal weapon in what has been the deadliest year of the war, NATO announced Tuesday.
Separately, video footage emerged of insurgents brandishing what appears to be stocks of U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan where eight Americans died in a battle last month.
NATO officials hoped Sunday's raid in the southern city of Kandahar would hurt Taliban militants, whose homemade bombs have become the biggest killer of U.S. and allied troops.
Acting on a tip, international forces and Afghan police discovered 1,000 100-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and 5,000 parts for roadside bombs in a warehouse, the military said. After the initial find Sunday, an additional 4,000 100-pound bags of fertilizer were found in a nearby compound. The joint forces also made 15 arrests.
The New York Times quoted officials as saying that that much fertilizer — more than 10 tractor-trailer loads — removed potentially thousands of bombs from the streets and trails of southern Afghanistan.
"You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter hours," Col. Mark Lee, who heads NATO’s effort to stop the bombmakers in southern Afghanistan, was quoted in the Times as saying. "This is a great first step."
John Pike, director of the military think tank Globalsecurity.org, had a lower estimate, saying the seizure included enough fertilizer to make dozens to a couple of hundred roadside bombs.
Fertilizer easy to get
The insurgents have been successful manufacturing homemade bombs from materials such as fertilizer, which is easily available in agricultural areas of the south.
I