Afghan Soldiers Killed in Attacks; Coalition Troops Discover Weapons CachesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2004 -- No injuries were reported today following separate attacks Oct. 1 near Orgun-e, Afghanistan -- the detonation of an improvised explosive device in a mosque and an ambush on a coalition convoy, according to Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan officials. Officials said the mosque received minimal damage following the detonation of an 82 mm mortar. In the convoy attack, no one was hurt and no equipment damaged when insurgents shot small-arms fire at the patrolling vehicles and quickly broke contact. The attacks came on the heels of a Sept. 30 incident that left two Afghan National Army soldiers dead and seven wounded near Orgun-e when a landmine exploded in their convoy, officials at Bagram Air Base reported. Also that day, an Afghan National Army patrol discovered seven Afghan Security Force soldiers killed and three wounded during a late Sept. 29 battle near Qalat. Another Afghan Security Force soldier was reported missing, according to officials. Insurgents had taken weapons and communications gear from the scene and burned one truck. Officials said a Sept. 30 ambush on a fuel truck near Lwara left one Afghan Security Force soldier wounded. The same day, a rocket attack on a coalition base near Ghazni resulted in no injuries or damage to equipment, officials reported. The rocket landed outside the base's perimeter. While maintaining offensive operations and dodging insurgent attacks, coalition troops continued making steady progress in unveiling enemy weapons caches, with five separate caches discovered Sept. 30, officials reported. Two of the caches, found near Gardez, consisted of 700 107 mm rockets, 250 82 mm rounds, several tons of small-arms ammunition, three rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, nine RPGs, three rocket boosters, 56 25 mm rounds, and 20 12.75 mm rounds. A cache found outside Jalalabad yielded 11 75 mm recoilless-rifle rounds and another in Zabul Province consisted of 60 107 mm high-explosive rounds, 63 82 mm rounds, 30 60 mm rounds and three RPG rounds. The fifth cache, found outside Bagram Air Base, included 30 to 40 assorted rockets.
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