KABUL: Afghan police seized four tonnes of sodium nitrate, used in the making of car bombs and improvised explosive devices, officials said, in one of the largest such seizures in the country’s 19-year insurgency. The chemical was seized from a truck in Kabul on Sunday. The driver had been arrested and investigations were under way, interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.
The government has not said which militant group was responsible. Sodium nitrate is also used in fertilisers and preservatives but it has been banned in Afghanistan for years. The Taliban, Islamic State and other militant groups operate in Afghanistan and have carried out major attacks in and around the capital.
The National Directorate of Security said it had detained seven Islamic State members in the eastern city of Jalalabad, including a man believed to be in charge of planning urban area bombings. An NDS statement said the group planned to target a gathering of Afghan security forces or tribal elders in the eastern province of Nangarhar.–Agencies
