Rocket attack behind ammo depot blast

cnn ^ | 6/29/02

[Ranger]

The massive and extended explosions sent shock waves through Spin boldak and was felt as far as Chaman in Pakistan.

Victims include women, children and Afghan soldiers. Officials say they are still trying to determine who fired the rocket and why.

[Free the USA]

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[Ranger]

Note that a few days ago Rumsfeld issued orders that new ordinance seized should be given to Afghan army forces instead of being destroyed on site. Further he noted the newness of weapons and munitions seized lately. It is not surprising then that the depot was rocketed by al-Qaeda forces or sabotaged in some way.

[maui_hawaii]

Shoulder-Fired Missiles Found in Al Qaeda Hunt
Mon Jun 17, 4:44 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and allied military teams hunting al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan ( news - web sites) have found a cache of 30 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, the Pentagon ( news - web sites)'s top military officer said on Monday.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers told a Pentagon briefing that searches over the past two weeks had uncovered the mobile Chinese-made missiles along with hundreds of thousands of small arms, bullets, rocket propelled grenades and RPG launchers.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said tension between nuclear powers India and Pakistan was easing and that Pakistan had moved two companies of additional troops to its border with Afghanistan to help stem crossings by al Qaeda guerrillas, blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

"U.S. and coalition forces have uncovered several weapon caches, which include a large number of RPGs and their launchers, small arms and small arm rounds," said Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"This is in the numbers in the hundreds of thousands -- grenades, mortars and even 30 shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles," the general added. He was not more specific, but said in response to questions that the highly-mobile missiles were made in China.

Myers said the missiles were found at the same site, but did not elaborate. Other defense officials said earlier on Monday that 15 missiles had been found, but Myers said the number was 30.

Last week, U.S. officials told Reuters that authorities in Sudan had recently arrested a suspected al Qaeda militant who claimed to have fired a shoulder-launched missile at a U.S. military aircraft in Saudi Arabia.