Anti-Personnel Mines Near Shadal Village
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
A large cache of explosives and weapons were discovered near Shadal Village on December 17th. The weapons and explosives included anti personnel devices in the cache found in Nangarhar Province, Sphingar District.
“The confiscation and destruction of all these explosives will help keep residents safe,” said a Coalition Forces member. Iraqi Military Forces working closely with various Coalition forces discovered the weapons cache. “Terrorists and Insurgents will not be able to attack Coalition and ANSF forces with these weapons,” said the Coalition Soldier.
Over thirty different anti personnel explosives were discovered, and they were in excellent shape and able to be used. Explosives of every shape and size were in the weapons cache, and it was from a tip from a local villager that led soldiers from the Afghan Military, and later combined Afghan and Coalition forces to the weapons.
“Afghanistan has more landmines than almost anywhere else, it is definitely among the most mined places on earth,” said Army Major Christopher Belcher. Belcher is spokesman for CJT Force 82.
“The use of landmines maim or kill more people here than almost any single place on earth,” stated Major Belcher. The landmines need to be removed as they pose a daily hazard to the local Afghan villagers, and troops.
“We are continuing operations with the Afghan military to remove more landmines, but there are hundreds of thousands of mines out there,” said Major Belcher. “But finding landmines before they are placed is even better, and help make Afghanistan and Nangarhar Province safer,” said Belcher.
