Coalition forces collect ammunitions in Uzbeen Valley
Courtesy Photo |
Soldiers from Task Force Lafayette, the French Brigade in Regional Command East, count......read moreread more
Courtesy Photo | Soldiers from Task Force Lafayette, the French Brigade in Regional Command East, count ammunitions brought to them by local civilians Aug. 4. Afghan civilians told the soldiers where a large weapons cache was located and volunteered to bring the ammunitions to TF Lafayette. Almost 400 rockets, grenades and mortars were recovered. see less
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Coalition forces collected more than 400 various ammunitions belonging to insurgents in the area from Aug. 4 through 6 in the Uzbeen Valley, eastern Afghanistan.
Task Force Lafayette, the French brigade in Regional Command East, was given tips from local Afghan civilians about where a large weapons cache was located and volunteered to bring the ammunitions to the soldiers.
On Aug. 4, the French soldiers collected:
44 107 mm Chinese Communist (ChiCom) rockets
62 82 mm mortal shells
25 82 mm recoilless gun shells
Eight 75 mm recoilless gun shells
On Aug. 5, they collected:
90 107 mm rockets
31 75 mm recoilless gun shells
30 82 mm recoilless gun shells
99 82 mm mortar shells
88 82 mm and 62 mm mortar shells
Many of the munitions collected were either still in the packages or new. The weapons cache was well hidden, according to the local civilians. To ensure the safety of the population, who took a great risk to assist coalition forces, TF Lafayette soldiers did not go to the area where the ammunition was retrieved. The delivery of the ammunitions to the soldiers form the local nationals is the result of the trust the population has in coalition forces.
The clearance of the weapon cache totalled more than $60,000 and struck a blow to insurgents in the area both financially and tactically.
The munitions will be destroyed by TF Lafayette engineers.
Since the beginning of 2010, tips from local civilians have helped coalition forces uncover more than 500 ammunitions in the Uzbeen Valley area.
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