Los Angeles Times: Target of U.S. Raid Was Ammo Bunker
[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-afghan-us-military0126jan25.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnation%2Dheadlines[/url]
Target of U.S. Raid Was Ammo Bunker
By MATT KELLEY
Associated Press Writer
January 25 2002, 11:16 PM PST
WASHINGTON -- A site in Afghanistan that U.S. soldiers thought was an al-Qaida
terrorist hide-out was discovered to hold a huge stockpile of Taliban munitions,
Pentagon officials said.
Army Special Forces soldiers raided two military compounds at the site
Wednesday, killing about 15 enemy fighters and taking 27 prisoners. One American
soldier was wounded in the ankle by enemy fire.
Instead of al-Qaida terrorists, the soldiers found the compounds held mostly
Taliban militiamen, hundreds of mortars and rockets and an estimated
half-million rounds of small arms ammunition, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy
director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.
Each U.S. raiding team comprised five to 10 soldiers, officials said, although
many more were nearby in helicopters and aircraft, prepared to join the battle
if necessary.
Victoria Clarke, spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said the
prisoners were mainly Taliban fighters, including some "relatively senior"
figures of the Islamic militia that ruled Afghanistan until its overthrow last
month.
Stufflebeem said they are being screened and interrogated at Kandahar airport,
where almost 300 other prisoners are held.
Besides the 27 new captives, Afghan authorities turned over five more prisoners
to U.S. forces in Kandahar on Thursday or Friday, Stufflebeem said. He had no
details, including their identities.
The transfer of prisoners from Kandahar to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, remained on hold Friday. Stufflebeem said Rumsfeld made the decision to
stop the transfers.
"I do not know when the secretary intends to restart or if he eventually does
intend to restart sending detainees down there," he said.
Rumsfeld is to fly to Guantanamo Bay on Sunday to inspect the facility and talk
to military guards and commanders, officials said. He will be accompanied by
four senators: Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Daniel Inouye of
Hawaii and Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Ted Stevens of Alaska.
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