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CNN Live At Daybreak

Grenades Fired at Afghan Airfield; Weapons Cache Found

Aired July 01, 2002 - 06:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Two rocket propelled grenades have hit an air field used by U.S. Special Forces in Southern Afghanistan. No injuries are reported.

Our Nic Robertson has details on the attack for you.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Late Sunday, military briefers say in the Eastern Afghanistan town of Khowst, two rocket propelled grenades were fired at the air strip on the outskirts of that town. It's about 30 kilometers from the Pakistan border.

Now, these rocket propelled grenades, they say, have a distance, a firing distance of about 300 meters. There is, close to that air strip, a small coalition forces base. And they say it's not clear whether the coalition forces were the target. However, they do say there were no reported injuries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At approximately midnight last night, two rocket propelled grenades were fired in the direction of coalition forces opposition operating near Khowst. They impacted on the air field there.

They impacted on the air field there. There were no injuries to coalition personnel or damage to equipment. A ground patrol was sent out by the area commander. They were able to find no signs of the launch area, nor where they able to find any of the suspected participants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Also in Eastern Afghanistan, U.S. forces say they have recovered two caches of weapons. The smaller cache, they say, contained a twin barreled anti-aircraft gun, some mines and a lot of other ammunition, and weapons. The larger cache, they say, could contain as much as eight tons of equipment, and included anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Special operations forces operating in the vicinity of Zarmaki Ghar, which is in Southeastern Afghanistan on the border area between Paktia and Paktika Provinces, recovered an extremely large cache of weapons and ammunition. The inventory that's available at the present time includes two Stinger missiles incomplete, a Milan anti-tank missile, numerous Sagger anti-tank missiles, small arms, heavy weapons and what was estimated to be tons of ammunition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: They say the reason they went to this area was because they were acting on intelligence information. They say this could be one of the largest hauls of weapons they've had so far. However, they are still detailing and cataloguing exactly what has been found. And also, U.S. forces are saying that this week, Fourth of July week, they are telling all soldiers, particularly at this base, Bagram, and others inside Afghanistan, to be on heightened alert.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.

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