'Major arms haul' in Afghanistan

US forces are focusing on border areas with Pakistan

US forces in Afghanistan say they have made a major seizure of suspected al-Qaeda arms and ammunition in the south-east of the country.

Colonel Roger King, a military spokesman at the Bagram airbase, said they were still assessing the size of the find, but he believed it was one of their largest hauls yet.

The quantity is too large to count

US spokesman Colonel Roger King

He said American special forces uncovered the arms cache in the last couple of days in caves in south-eastern Afghanistan, towards the Pakistani border, between Paktiya and Paktika provinces.

"We had intelligence that there was a potential for different types of equipment in this area," he said.

At the same time, there has been a grenade attack on a base used by US forces in eastern Afghanistan, but there were no casualties.

'Modern' weapons

Colonel King said the size of the haul rivalled the one found in June by British forces in eastern Afghanistan

He also said the equipment was relatively modern and didn't date from the time Afghan mujahideen fighters took on the Soviets in the 1980s.

It included Stinger missiles, grenade launchers, rockets, mines, heavy weaponry and what they say could be as much as eight tons of ammunition.

The BBC's Janet Barrie, reporting from the Bagram base, says the operation against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan is now focusing on seizing weapons, gathering local intelligence and trying to ensure al-Qaeda can no longer find supplies and supporters in the area.

Attack

Colonel King also revealed that two rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at an airfield used by US special forces in the east of the country.

There was no report of any injuries.

US forces did not return fire because they could not determine which direction the grenades came from, Colonel Roger King confirmed.

He said hit-and-run attacks on the Khost airfield had become weekly occurrences.

US troops and their allies have repeatedly come under rocket fire in Afghanistan in recent weeks, but have suffered no casualties.