Afghanistan — Afghan Border Patrol Seizes Weapons, Explosives

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2010 — An Afghan bor­der patrol unit con­fis­cat­ed 4 tons of a sub­stance sus­pect­ed of being ammo­ni­um nitrate — the prin­ci­ple ingre­di­ent in road­side bombs in Afghanistan — after stop­ping a truck at a ran­dom check­point today, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

The seizure fol­lowed sev­er­al days of coali­tion suc­cess in con­fis­cat­ing weapons. In oth­er news from Afghanistan:
— A com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al patrol found more than 65 rock­ets in the Garm Ser dis­trict of Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, after receiv­ing a tip from an Afghan civil­ian.
— A com­bined patrol in Uruz­gan province’s Chorah dis­trict found a weapons cache yes­ter­day con­tain­ing a home­made bomb, a 107 mm rock­et, three rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, small-arms ammu­ni­tion and a 107 mm round cas­ing and motor.
— In Pak­ti­ka province’s Yahya Khel dis­trict yes­ter­day, an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force patrol found a bomb made from five 82 mm mor­tar rounds.
— In Her­at province’s Shin­dand dis­trict yes­ter­day, a com­bined patrol found nine hand grenades, 600 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, an anti-per­son­nel mine, three box­es of launch­er charges, 14 fus­es and more than 20 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate.
— A com­bined force in Kab­ul province’s Mosahi dis­trict yes­ter­day detained two sus­pect­ed insur­gents while search­ing for a Tal­iban mil­i­tant.
— Afghan forces found 520 pounds of home­made explo­sives in Kan­da­har on May 1.
— Also May 1, an Afghan-inter­na­tion­al patrol in Helmand’s Nad‑e Ali dis­trict found four rock­et-pro­pelled-grenade boost­ers, two hand grenades, three fus­es, 10 radio anten­nas, a rifle, bomb-mak­ing mate­ri­als and doc­u­ments.
— ISAF forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed bomb-attack facil­i­ta­tors in Helmand’s Garm Ser dis­trict May 1. 

No shots were fired and no civil­ians were harmed dur­ing these oper­a­tions, offi­cials said. 

Source:
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases