massive weapons cache seized in afghanistan0 i+ P( D+ C. h/ G' a
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.: N7 Y8 L" t7 {' I ?8 m& E
the arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on sept. 18, defense ministry spokesman gen. mohammed saher azimi said.
2 f+ I. }% c. i6 A 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.
0 k( B& T* |6 ]1 e. d# v "the enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," azimi said. "this was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians."$ }- d; n! R- E& Q Z
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.
/ B6 Q7 p! [' g$ { 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 00:26:22
