Pakistan truck driver arrested in Torkham, 9,310kg of Ammonium Nitrate seized By KHAAMA PRESS – Sun Nov 27 2016, 6:55 pm

A Pakistani truck driver was arrested by the Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) forces as he was attempting to transport 9,310kg of Ammonium Nitrate via Torkham.
“Yesterday evening, Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) confiscated 9310 kilos of Ammonium Nitrate, a key component used to make Improvised Explosive Devices,” the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement.
The statement further added that Ammonium Nitrate was placed in a Pakistani truck transporting to Afghanistan.
“The police searched the truck and found the Ammonium Nitrate in the Torkham port,” MoI said, adding that “The driver was arrested on accusation of this case.”
The anti-government armed militant groups frequently use Ammonium Nitrate to produce homemade explosives including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) for roadside bombings besides using the material for complex attacks.
IEDs are considered as the major contributor to civilian casualties as the ordinary civilians are mostly targeted in such attacks.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late in October it documented 8,397 conflict-related civilian casualties (2,562 deaths and 5,835 injured) between 1 January and 30 September.
The UN mission in its report said the latest civilian casualties report represents a one per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2015. Ground engagements remained the leading cause of civiliancasualties, followed by suicide and complex attacks, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
“Increased fighting in densely populated areas makes it imperative for parties to take immediate steps to ensure all feasible precautions are being taken to spare civilians from harm,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.http://www.khaama.com/pakistan-truck-driver-arrested-in-torkham-9310kg-of-ammonium-nitrate-seized-02377