ISPR: Army has evidence of Indian support for Waziristan Terrorists: Weapons, Papers

vineshvk · November 4, 2009, 7:31am

This particular photo is very concerning, for 4 reasons.

These shells are visibly 81mm mortar shells rather than 82mm (Here is a Turkish 81mm shell, it looks exactly the same, whereas all 82mm shells look different ) . Do any amount of reearch, and you will find many 81mm shells of this design with slight variances, and absolutely no 82mm shells that look like this. Why are these shells labelled 82mm?
(Note: 81mm shells work in 82mm mortars, though with reduced accuracy)

These shells are visibly MUCH newer than the rest of the ordnance in the photos, which are obviously old and partially corroded. These shells are in PERFECT condition, ie they are new. Someone has been supplying them recently to the terrorists.

These shells are obviously not made in India - India manufactures 81mm shells that looks completely different. They are not made in Pakistan either, ours look different too. These shells are, however, made in many, many western countries. From the USA to Turkey, shells that look like these are in mass production. However, no manufacturers marks the lot number with the format LOT-XXXX as in these photos. With one exception: Soltam Systems of Israel.
81mm Family
Soltam is the only manufacturer of 81mm shells who’s website I’ve seen that marks the shell lot number with LOT followed by 4 digits.

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a) Israel has been known to be selling many munitions including mortars and mortar munitions to India. I believe that the evidence currently presented and at hand is that these shells were at least of Israeli origin, probably part of their arms sales to India.

b) The Taliban (and all Afghans) use predominantly Soviet style weapons, as these dominated the war against the USSR. Soviet 82mm mortars were made to be able to also fire western 81mm shells, such as the ones on display here.

c) So what the Pak army has on display is fresh, new 81mm shells, deliberately mislabelled as 82mm shells and given to the Taliban. Why the mislabelling? Perhaps so that the Taliban thought they were getting a good deal and original ammunition for their mortars? Or perhaps simply so that Taliban knew what to use them in?

d) Israel would not have sold deliberately mislabelled ammunition to India. The Indian government would have had to ask specifically for the mislabelling

e) The Pakistan Army will be smart enough to know all the information I just gave. The fact that they have made no mention of Israel means that they believe Israel is not knowingly involved with the supply of ammunition to these terrorists; Pakistan appears to be pointing the finger at India alone.

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Summary:

These shells are of neither Pakistani or Indian origin. These shells are 81mm shells of western design that have been mislabelled as 82mm.
How did these end up in the Taliban’s hands?
Israel manufactures shells like these and marks them with this lot ID format. Israel is known to sell muniitions including mortars to India.
It seems as though India has provided these shells through to the Taliban, where they are operated in 82mm mortar tubes.

Is Isreal selling arms only to India.