(Kabul) -- U.S. forces and Afghan police have discovered a record-size stash of bomb making material in Afghanistan.

The "New York Times" is reporting on the discovery that involved a half-million pounds of ammonium nitrate, the same fertilizer used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.

In addition to the fertilizer, the discovery included about two-thousand bomb-making devices including timers and triggers.

Fifteen Afghans were detained.

Colonel Mark Lee, who leads the NATO effort to eliminate roadside bombings in the country calls the discovery "a great first step." Lee says "you can turn a bag of ammonium nitrate into a bomb in a matter of hours." Possession of Ammonium nitrate is illegal in Afghanistan.

The discovery of more than ten tractor-trailer loads, all packaged in thousands of 100-pound bags, is thought to have originated in neighboring Pakistan.

The find may have prevented thousands of bombs, the number-one killer of American soldiers in Afghanistan, from being made and deployed.

　

(Copyright 2009 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)