Massive weapons cache seized in Afghanistan
2 q; b, h+ H6 A: E3 V M+ q& Z Thousands of rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft ammunition have been seized in central Afghanistan in the largest cache of militant weapons discovered in months, a government spokesman said Sunday.
% f i% y/ B0 G1 x2 o6 S The arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on Sept. 18, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said.1 j7 X/ b6 x1 G2 F1 Z
The raid in Ghazni province‘s Khogyani district Saturday netted some 2,000 surface-to-surface rockets, 3,000 mortar rounds, 500 artillery shells and 100 boxes of anti-aircraft bullets, he said.3 I e5 @6 ]" c8 L+ e& T
"The enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," Azimi said. "This was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians.", S- f4 c- v& a; m& t# z( L- i
He declined to give any other details about the find, including whether the Taliban were suspected to have stockpiled the cache or whether anyone had been arrested.) I% t( V) V1 o, w0 i) h
Afghan officials have warned that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have launched a joint campaign to disrupt the September elections — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter century of war. Since March, a major upsurge in fighting has left more than 800 people dead, more than half of them suspected insurgents, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. |
发表于 2012-8-15 00:04:42
