Afghan security forces and the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have discovered and destroyed an arms factory in southern Afghanistan.

The arsenal, which was found during a sweep in the Sangin district of Helmand province on Monday, contained six 55-pound barrels of homemade explosives, scales, a boiler room, and a drying room, ISAF confirmed in a press release.

An explosive ordinance disposal team was called to the site and determined that the best way to destroy the war materiel was to conduct an artillery strike.

The Afghan army cordoned off a safety zone approximately 300 meters from the factory. Then three rockets were fired at the factory, destroying it and its contents in place.

Over the past nine years, the Taliban have launched most of their assaults against US-led forces from Afghanistan's southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

MP/HGL