County troops help uncover weapons

A stash of Taliban weapons has been uncovered by Shropshire-based soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan, defence chiefs have revealed.

The haul, which included rocket-propelled grenades, explosive devices and five magazines of AK47 bullets, was discovered by soldiers from 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment, based at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton. The discovery means the weapons can now never be turned against British forces or the Afghan people.

The weapons cache was found during a patrol in the Nawabad area of Helmand province.

The regiment's combined force reconnaissance group, known as Wildcat 10, was deployed on operations when it discovered the cache.

The commander Captain Ben Davis was leading the patrol when he was tipped off about a weapons hide which it was initially thought included four RPG warheads.

Following searches in possible insurgent locations, Wildcat 10 then searched a walled poppy garden to the east of the target area.

The initial find of the four RPG warheads was confirmed and Captain Davis then made the decision to rummage through the rest of the compound.

After several hours a cache of weapons was unearthed. These included 10 RPG warheads, grenades, nearly 1,000 bullet rounds, armour-piercing rounds and parts used to make improvised explosive devices.

Throughout the operation Afghan National Police were involved in cordoning off the weapons cache to deter any unwanted insurgent attention, defence chiefs said.

Captain Davis said: "The weapons and ammunition that were recovered will undoubtedly have saved the lives of Afghan and ISAF forces, and the amount that was recovered would have provided an extremely heavy weight of fire for the Taliban."

Staff Sergeant Yosef Mohammed, Afghan police representative, said: "It is very good that these weapons are now out of the hands of the Taliban as their supply chain will now be tested."

By Tom Johannsen