British troops seize haul of explosives

British troops in Afghanistan have seized explosives which would have made 300 bombs over the past four months, the military’s top officer in the country said yesterday.

By The Newsroom

Published 10th Aug 2011, 07:00 BST

Brigadier Ed Davis hailed the capture of the lethal haul which could have been used to kill and maim UK soldiers. He said: “Since we have been here we have interdicted just over 2.5 tons of home-made explosive, which equates to about two months of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), which is about 300 in total.”

Brig Davis, who commands Task Force Helmand and leads 3 Commando Brigade, said 40 per cent of IEDs uncovered by UK troops were found after tip-offs from Afghan villagers.

He said 16 low-level Taliban commanders had been killed or captured since 3 Commando deployed to Helmand in April.

“Quite a few of the others have moved back into Pakistan so they’re not there to command their fighters in the field,” he added.