Afghan Insurgents Seen on TV With U.S. Ammo

Television footage broadcast Tuesday showed insurgents handling what appears to be U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan that American forces left last month following a deadly firefight that killed eight troops. The U.S. military said the forces that left the area said they removed and accounted for their equipment. The Al-Jazeera broadcast video showed insurgents handling weapons, including anti-personnel mines with U.S. markings on them, but it was unclear when the video had been filmed. The television station reported that insurgents said they seized the weapons from two U.S. remote outposts in Nuristan province. The ammunition could be used against U.S. and Afghan forces, although the amount shown was not extensive. However, the footage will no doubt be used by insurgent propagandists to promote their "victory" over the Americans and encourage their supporters. Separately, NATO officials said international forces and the Afghan National Police seized 5,000 components used in roadside bombs and 250 tons ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which is often used in making explosives. Fifteen people were detained in Sunday's raid on a warehouse in Kandahar. Another 4,000 100-pound bags of fertilizer were found in a nearby compound. NATO also said a U.S. troop was killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, but provided no other details. Nuristan was the site of an Oct. 3 battle in which some 200 fighters bombarded a joint U.S.-Afghan army outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. Eight U.S. troops died — as well as three Afghan soldiers — in one of the heaviest losses of U.S. life in a single battle since the war began. Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for NATO forces, said the material in the footage "appears to be U.S. equipment." He said it was unclear how the insurgents got the weapons. "It's debatable whether they got them from that location," Vician said, referring to the mountainous Kamdesh district of Nuristan where the nearly six-hour battle took place. But Gen. Mohammad Qassim Jangulbagh, provincial police chief in Nuristan, said, "The Americans left ammunition at the base."