Huge bomb-making operation found

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. and Afghan forces found huge amounts of ammonium nitrate in Kandahar, enough to make thousands of bombs used in killing coalition forces, officials said.

The recent raid in the southern region of Afghanistan also yielded about 2,000 bomb-making devices such as timers and triggers, and led to the detention of 15 Afghans, The New York Times reported.

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer bombs have become the deadliest weapons used by militants to attack U.S. and NATO forces in the country, the newspaper said. The ammonium nitrate find was estimated to weigh about half a million pounds, or more than 10 tractor-trailer loads, which could be used to make thousands of the bombs, the report said.

"You can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter of hours," Col. Mark Lee, leader of NATO's anti-bombing campaign, told the Times. "This is a great first step."

The report said much of the ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer is imported from Pakistan as the chemical is illegal in Afghanistan.

The Kandahar raid, based on intelligence information, is part of an effort to keep the Taliban from obtaining the chemical fertilizer.