New Delhi: That Thursday’s devastating blast at Kabul airport could pierce through high-end protective gear like bullet-proof vests and helmets that the US soldiers wore is indicative of the fact that very high quality explosives were used, which in all probability, would have been a deadly mixture of ammonium nitrate and RDX which maximizes the impact.
Media reports quoted a preliminary assessment by a US official saying that the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K or ISIS-K or ISK) suicide bomber carried 25 pounds of explosives (more than 11 kg) that was loaded with shrapnel which claimed the lives of 169 Afghans and 13 US soldiers.
But where does the IS (K) source the explosives from?
Says a report on the IS (K) by the Kabul-based Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS): “ISK also sources most of its bomb-making materials from Pakistan. Peshawar and Quetta are cited as the source for a key component of ISK’s explosives production, ammonium nitrate. Money and material destined for ISK have also been intercepted hidden in men’s turbans and vegetable wagons at Afghan-Pakistan border crossings.”
The 126-page long report by Afghanistan’s leading think-tank, compiled after extensive interviews of unnamed former Afghan government officials and ISK fighters, adds: “Experts with access to ISK records assess no less than 90 per cent of its membership originate from Pakistan or Afghanistan, former TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) fighters especially make up a significant part of its fighting strength, so a high number of Pakistani fighters is unsurprising.”
“The quality and quantity of equipment available to ISK has, in addition, led some to conclude that a geographically proximate state must be supplying it. ISK members interviewed for this research, furthermore, reported their weapons being produced and supplied by facilitators in Pakistan."
“Counterfeit AK47s are allegedly produced in Pakistan and supplied to ISK units all across Afghanistan. None of this overtly proves Pakistan’s support, but is indicative perhaps of its government turning a blind eye or even facilitating such activities,” the report adds.
Widely used in nitrogen-based agriculture fertilizers and in mining and construction, ammonium nitrate is a key chemical constituent in the preparation of ammonium nitrate fuel oil, which is triggered for explosion by primary explosives like RDX.
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Most terror attacks in India including the devastating February 14, 2019 suicide blast in Pulwama have used the ammonium nitrate-RDX combination.
Headquartered in Afghanistan and an affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), IS (K) adheres to radical Salafist-Wahhabi Islamic ideology.
Set up on January 10, 2015, IS (K) has its strongholds in the restive northeast Afghanistan neighbouring Pakistan including in Nangarhar, Kunar and also Kabul to a certain extent.
IS (K) bifurcated itself into the ‘Wilayat al-Hind’ (for India) and ‘Wilayat Pakistan’ (for Pakistan) on May 10, 2019 and May 15, 2019 respectively.
