Defence News

The last week of January saw Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and their Australian mentors remove significant quantities of explosives, ordnance and weapons from insurgents located within the Baluchi Valley area of Uruzgan Province.

This included an insurgent bomb-making facility, discovered on 25 January and containing more than 400kg of explosives and 20 pre-prepared Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

Numerous smaller cache finds also removed insurgent weapons and bombs from the area.

Mentoring Team Leader Lieutenant Alex Davidson believed the cache finds had come at a pivotal time, as the Afghan winter gave way to the warmer ‘fighting season’.

“We also located six rocket propelled grenades, a mortar, rocket propelled grenade motors, detonator cords and electrical IED components,” he said.

All of these are components for IEDs so we’ve hit them [the insurgents] where it hurts.”

Another mission uncovered significant quantities of aluminium powder, a key component used in the production of explosives.

The operations were conducted in the vicinity of the newly established Patrol Base Samad in the Baluchi valley.

Historically, this valley is an area of significant insurgent activity and the discovery of the IED-making facility was aided by the greatly increased influence provided by the new base

Commander of Joint Task Force 633 Major-General Angus Campbell said the latest finds not only disrupted the efforts of the insurgents, but also helped to indicate the growing capabilities of the ANSF.

“The Afghan National Army and their Australian mentors have been able to take the information provided to them by local sources and develop a targeted operation that will certainly affect future insurgent activities,” he said.