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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – A tip generated by the 3rd Coy, 1st Kandak, Afghan National Army pointed ANA and U.S. Army soldiers from Task Force Lethal to a large weapons cache in Sarmast Kheyl, Zormat District Jan. 31.
The ANA and 1st Platoon of Company C, TF Lethal, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division uncovered a significant amount of homemade explosives, improvised explosive device-making materials, several pressure plate IEDs, triggering devices for IEDs and miscellaneous IED parts.
The ANA received the information from a villager during a joint patrol with coalition forces in eastern Zormat a week before the discovery.
While patrolling in a nearby village, the ANA informed coalition forces of the information. As a result, 1st Lt. Khasim, platoon leader for the ANA unit, and U.S. Army 1st Lt. Joel Sage of Ankeny, Iowa, platoon leader of 1st Plt., Co. C, moved their patrols to Sarmast Kheyl.
While the ANA searched the suspected location for the cache, U.S. Army Sgt. Michael Jenkins of Ames, Iowa, a team leader for 1st Plt., Co. C, was helping provide security. He and his ANA partner saw barbed wire covering a tarp across a field by a nearby structure and decided to investigate.
“He looked around, pulled some brush aside and then I saw the shock on his face,” said Jenkins, describing the ANA soldier’s inspection.
The soldier looked at Jenkins, saying only, “Boom.”
They discovered a vest for carrying equipment and a handful of modified anti-personnel mines reinforced with extra homemade explosives and retrofitted with a pressure plate device.
This find sparked further investigation.
The ANA found switches and wires, IED manufacturing materials and a significant amount of an illegal fertilizer.
Jenkins was outside the building with a handheld metal detector when the ANA approached Sage and asked for help searching inside.
A small team from 1st Plt., Co. C, including Jenkins, went into the building and began searching.
Inside the building, they found large steel drums and a 55 gallon barrel full of grain. The barrel had a pressure switch hidden inside.
In the end, the ANA, partnered with the U.S. Army, found and removed anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive device manufacturing materials and ingredients to create homemade explosives.
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Press Releases
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