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NATO announces seizure of bomb making materials in Afghanistan
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French Foreign Legion soldiers check for improvised explosive device
(IED) outside a Rocco combat outpost 50 km east of Kabul on Nov. 5.
Kabul, Afghanistan – NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced on Tuesday that it, along with Afghan security forces, had seized a significant stockpile of material used to create IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). The material was seized in two raids on Sunday in the city of Kandahar. Kandahar is in the Kandahar Province.
Approximately half a million pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and 5,000 components were confiscated in the raid, enough to build several hundred to thousands of roadside bombs. Ammonium nitrate fertilizer can be used to create the explosive charges in IEDs and is is illegal to possess in Afghanistan, even for use as fertilizer by farmers.
In addition to the material confiscation, Afghan and NATO forces detained 15 people.
NATO Colonel Mark Lee stated, “You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter hours. This is a great first step.”
Ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 bombing by Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh at the federal building in Oklahoma City which killed 168 people.
According to CNN, ISAF spokesman Lt. Colonel Todd Vician stated, "This was a tremendous success for the Afghan National Police who led this operation." He added, "This find will undoubtedly save many lives and points to the increasing capability of the Afghan national security forces."
Copyright © 2009 by Raymond Gellner
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