Massive weapons cache seized in Afghanistan
8 s8 \8 N, D2 I9 E n 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.& `# t" h) _* l. N4 U2 Z6 G7 }% f4 L6 T
The arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on Sept. 18, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said.
y% J2 t! y4 o 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.
/ B. C. i( Y( F* N, L) Z0 | "The enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," Azimi said. "This was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians."; c1 [. \0 P7 ?, B. p2 C& A8 U) D
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.7 e: e* |. f$ r
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
