Coalition forces collect ammunitions in Uzbeen Valley

KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces collected more than 400 various ammunitions belonging to insurgents in the area from Aug. 4 through Aug. 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.