massive weapons cache seized in afghanistan) }2 J% f, ?7 I/ ^ E; t
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.2 G* p4 p4 V9 V& |1 v0 A" a
the arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on sept. 18, defense ministry spokesman gen. mohammed saher azimi said.
9 a8 D! v2 B# Z3 }0 z: C 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.7 [ B# h: G' m! a% 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."/ w" X1 N2 W4 U$ S S
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.# f. R2 e7 f! \7 r8 F+ F* ^
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
