Massive weapons cache seized in Afghanistan: L8 r0 t2 y% U* A! M* O' O( c% u
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.& O, S* R. ?; T$ |$ M) s" N9 ?" C
The arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on Sept. 18, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said.% N7 n! l- P) M9 _- G
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.
; j! v x+ S5 I0 I "The enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," Azimi said. "This was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians."/ q6 Z) E( C) g, O$ a
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.
! L- Y& V! v. E 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 00:15:43
