TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Palestinian Authority plans to establish
a facility for the mass production of military-grade explosives.Israeli officials said an examination of captured PA documents revealed
that Palestinian security forces have drafted plans to complete a facility
meant to produce military-grade explosives in the Gaza Strip. They said the
facility would manufacture vital chemicals required for TNT, RDX amd RETN.The PA's Preventive Security Apparatus has taken responsibility for the
production of explosives, officials said. They said the agency has
determined that a factory to produce nitric acid would require $18,500 for
equipment and space. The acid is regarded as the most important chemical in
weapons-grade explosives and the plan called for the plant to work 24 hours
a day.A document seized from the security agency's headquarters at Tel Al Hawa
earlier this month envisioned that the factory would be at least 100 square
meters and have the capacity to produce 15 tons of nitric acid a year. The
memorandum said an investment of $30,000 would double production capacity to
30 tons of acid annually.
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