massive weapons cache seized in afghanistan! d* n3 x! Z% L# {( C/ m
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.
1 t. Q+ n; S/ _2 j* T! G the arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on sept. 18, defense ministry spokesman gen. mohammed saher azimi said.
. e6 u' w" h3 u w- B 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.
' o' t G8 K. a: \1 i) w# c* k% j: ? "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! g' S+ X+ X. h0 g2 w 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.3 F; F' C3 K8 P, l5 N# w2 m8 l
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. |