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Arms, Not Guerrillas Found in U.S.-Led Afghan Sweep
EFLU.S.-led forces on a big sweep in southeast Afghanistan found caches of hundreds of rockets and other weapons but are yet to find Taliban or al Qaeda guerrillas, the U.S. military said on Friday. The armaments were found by special forces in the Zormat region of Paktia province bordering Pakistan during operation Warrior Sweep, which began on Tuesday. The operation has also involved U.S. airborne and Italian mountain troops, as well as 1,000 soldiers from the fledgling Afghan National Army on their first major combat operation. A belated welcome to our Italian friends. Colonel Rodney Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said this week the aim was to aggressively seek out and attack Taliban, Al Qaeda and other anti-coalition forces. Asked on Friday whether the coalition forces had found any guerrillas, he replied: "No, there has been no contact." However, he added: "The operation is going well." The bad guys are there, just havenât turned over the right rock yet. Davis said the arms caches discovered, one of which was found in a Islamic seminary, or madrassah, included machineguns, hundreds of shells, rockets and mortar bombs and thousands of rounds of machinegun ammunition. Standard issue for a Islamic religious school. Posted by: Steve 2003-07-25 |
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