UZBEEN VALLEY, Afghanistan -- On 1 June, in the Uzbeen Valley, a French unit found 23 shells for 82 mm mortars, 4 PG 7's rockets, one rocket 107mm Chicom type, an ammunition box (12.7 mm) and a component of mortar, hidden in three separate sites.
All munitions were brought to the Combat Out Post ROCCO for destruction by specialized military teams.
This operation was conducted with the support of the local population that provides valuable information or directly gives the found weapons to French forces. Two days earlier, for example, a shepherd of the Uzbeen valley brought three mortar shells of 82mm and one of 100mm. On 2 June, a village chief, a Malek, gave 8 mortar shells of 82 mm to the same French units.
These successes begin harming insurgents' stocks, reducing the available materials for making improvised explosive device. They also reveal the involvement of people who are the first victims of insurgent attacks. On 28 May, the explosion of a Chicom's rocket had wounded a child from the village of Yarkani, in this valley.