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Afghan Guerrillas Buy Rocket Attacks
Anti-government guerrillas are paying poor people small amounts of cash to fire crude rockets at U.S. bases in the country, a provincial governor said Monday. Rocket's R'Us. The latest reported incident took place late Saturday, when attackers fired a rocket at a U.S. base in the eastern city of Asadabad, said Kunar Gov. Sayed Fazel Akbar. The rocket fell short of the base and there were no injuries. Asadabad is near the Pakistan border. Where else. Akbar, a former presidential spokesman, said there are no Taliban or al-Qaida fighters in the area, but they or other anti-government forces pay poor people up to $10 to fire the rockets. "Some people will fire rockets just for money. They need the money," he said. "It's very difficult to control one man putting a rocket on his shoulder and going up into the mountains to fire it." For more than a year, attackers have fired crude rockets at U.S. bases across eastern and southern Afghanistan. Usually launched one or two at a time, the rockets rarely land closer than 500 yards from their targets. These guys firing them don't care, they are getting paid by the launch. If they got too close to hitting a base, it would draw, shall we say, "unwanted attention" down on them. In Paktia province, about 250 Afghan security forces launched an operation Saturday to hunt down culprits behind a series of rocket strikes there, said Gen. Atiqullah Uddin, a senior commander in Gardez. The soldiers searched the districts of Zormat, Jadran and Chamkani, as well as the Shah-i-Kot Valley. The Pakistani-based Afghan Islamic Press reported dozens of U.S. helicopters were involved in a major new sweep for Taliban fighters around Shah-i-Kot. It was not clear if the two operations were the same, however. U.S. military spokesman Col. Rodney Davis declined to comment. Uddin said only a handful of American soldiers were involved. In the eastern Afghan town of Khost, security forces arrested five men - four Afghans and one from Saudi Arabia who had no passport and crossed illegally into Afghanistan. A Saudi with no passport? Usually they have a dozen. Coalition troops took custody of all five men in Khost on Monday, said Gen. Khial Baz, a division commander. "Our soldiers were patrolling the area last night (Sunday), and these people opened fire on them," Baz said. The Saudi man had a pistol, while the four Afghans - two of whom were working as guides - had assault rifles. Gee, a guy only armed with a pistol. That would indicate that he might be their fearless leader. The group also had binoculars, a video camera and a cell or satellite phone, Baz said. It was unclear what they were doing with the equipment. Sounds like a recon team. Need to have a long talk with the Saudi.
Posted by: Steve 2003-06-02 |
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