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。 ( W6 h' x3 K( e4 U6 |" ? the arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on sept。 18, defense ministry spokesman gen。 mohammed saher azimi said。 0 t/ H1 w& q9 d: V R6 ^* T 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。1 ^2 V, X5 | P( @
the enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections, azimi said。 this was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians。; \2 I) y" ?! T/ e
he declined to give any other details about the find, including whether the taliban were suspected to have stockpiled the cacheorwhether anyone had been arrested。% h1 P* n! n- y
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。