Coalition explosives experts destroy weapons caches in Afghanistan
BAGRAM, Afghanistan, 20 mar 03 (AP)

Explosives experts in Afghanistan (news - web sites) destroyed two weapons caches including a dozen rockets and four homemade bombs found left behind by suspected enemy fighters in different parts of the country, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday.

The explosives teams, part of an international coalition fighting terror, set off the controlled detonation of rockets Wednesday near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Col. Roger King said. Four "improvised explosive devices" were also detonated, he said.

No one was injured in the explosions, King said.
The bombs were discovered in the eastern town of Jalalabad last month near the home of a secretary of Din Mohammed, governor of the Nangarhar province, King said, without elaborating.

Several small explosions have occurred in Jalalabad in recent months. On Tuesday, a bomb exploded at the house of a senior government official in Jalalabad, and another went off over the weekend at the governor's house, shattering window panes and damaging a wall, police said. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Police said they suspect al-Qaida terror network members or remnants of the ousted Taliban regime were responsible for the explosions.

Also Wednesday, a 20-year-old Afghan militia soldier was flown from eastern Afghanistan to coalition headquarters in Bagram, north of the capital Kabul, for medical treatment after being shot in the back and foot, King said. The soldier was in stable condition.

Separately, three other Afghans were rushed to Bagram Air Base for medical treatment on Wednesday. One of them was a 12-year-old boy who stepped on a land mine, King said. The boy's left leg was amputated, and he was in stable condition.

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