massive weapons cache seized in afghanistan
% \3 s5 D( }* M) r 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.0 [& q9 _6 L' V* r
the arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on sept. 18, defense ministry spokesman gen. mohammed saher azimi said.
]' X: P7 r& w 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.& S, l& k# Y4 X
"the enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," azimi said. "this was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians."; e5 ?) B$ r4 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.
; n$ A' Q' E5 [8 l# k$ f- R$ t/ n 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. |