DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by Ministerial Support and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
MSPA 175/10
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Australian soldiers net 16 insurgent weapons caches in five days
Australian Army soldiers from the 1st Mentoring Task Force (MTF1) and their Afghan
National Army (ANA) counterparts recovered 16 caches during five days of operations from
09 to 14 May, bringing the total haul to 55 cache finds over the period 1 to 15 May.
Commanding Officer of MTF1, Lieutenant Colonel Jason Blain said that the significant cache
finds have considerably reduced insurgent capability in Oruzgan.
“Our Counter-Improvised Explosive Device campaign continues to impede insurgent freedom
to conduct indiscriminate attacks against the local people as well as Australian, Afghan and
ISAF security forces,” LTCOL Blain said.
During recent operations, Afghan soldiers and engineers are demonstrating an ever increasing
capability to conduct these types of operations by themselves.
“Our soldiers with their Afghan National Army partners are conducting dismounted security
patrols right in the heart of populated areas and that’s where we are having a significant
impact on insurgent capability.”
The five day haul included six AK-47 assault rifles, one .303 calibre rifle, one 60mm mortar
tube, about 45 kilograms of explosive powder including ammonium nitrate, twenty rocket
propelled grenades, thousands of rounds of assault rifle and machine gun ammunition, a large
quantity of electronic improvised explosive device components including pressure plates,
trigger systems, detonation cord, and batteries, two mortar rounds, a set of binoculars, and
two hand-held radios.
“We use multiple layers of security in the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device campaign
including explosive detection dogs, combat engineers, electronic protection measures, and
robust search procedures that are proving very effective,” LTCOL Blain said.
“Every cache we find makes it harder for the Taliban, and improves security conditions and
development opportunities for the people of Oruzgan,” he said.
The First Mentoring Task Force continues to work frontline operations, searching vehicles,
fields, houses and other buildings used by the Taliban to hide weapons, construct explosive
devices and launch attacks.
Media Note:
For more information on the Australian Defence Force’s operations in Afghanistan go to:
Imagery can be found at
Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
NEWS 
