International force seizes explosives, weapons

Materials for more than 2,000 bombs destroyed in Afghanistan

By Gretel C. Kovach
Monday, November 1, 2010 at 6:02 p.m.
/ ISAF

International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan who raided a Taliban logistics hub last weekend found materials to make more than 2,000 homemade bombs, as well as opium, weapons and ammunition. All of the items found in the Barham Chah bazaar near the border with Pakistan were destroyed on site, the NATO force said.

International forces under the command of Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Forward raided a Taliban logistics hub near the Afghan border with Pakistan over the weekend, where they killed at least 15 insurgents and seized enough explosive material to make more than 2,000 bombs, the International Security Assistance Force announced Monday.

The joint offensive by Afghan and international troops in the Barham Chah bazaar area of Helmand Province lasted all day Saturday and into Sunday. Insurgents tried to repel the international force using small-arms fire from several different positions and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, planted around the bazaar, ISAF said.

In addition to the 15 confirmed enemy deaths, insurgents removed many more wounded and killed from the area before the firefight with international ground and air forces ended, ISAF said.

Inside the transnational shipment and storage site, the joint force found an explosives factory, more than 51,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate (the banned fertilizer used to make bombs), 60 cases of .50-caliber machine-gun ammunition, 22 homemade bombs, 88 pounds of opium, and 4,400 pounds of chemicals, among other weapons and ordnance - all of which was destroyed on site.

“The destruction of this insurgent material will have an immediate impact for the people of Helmand province,â€