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Kabul (AFP) March 10, 2011 International forces in Afghanistan have seized a "significant" shipment of rockets from Iran which would have doubled insurgents' strike range, an official said Wednesday. The 48 122mm rockets, which have a range of 20 kilometres (13 miles), are being linked to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and were seized last month in Nimroz, a southwestern Afghan province bordering Iran. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan accuses Iran of providing equipment and support to Afghan militants waging an insurgency against US-led international troops. But Iran rejects this, with a foreign ministry spokesman describing the allegations last week as "baseless and unacceptable." ISAF spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Colette Murphy told AFP: "These rockets have a further distance than anything that has previously been found... They can go about 20 kilometres, that's what makes the find so significant." She added that this was about double the range of the insurgents' current reach with comparable weapons. Markings on the rockets indicated they were from Iran, she added, saying it was the Revolutionary Guards "who our folks are telling us that supplied them." Iran is sometimes seen as hostile to the Taliban for religious reasons but analysts suggest it could support insurgents as a counterweight to arch-enemy the US, which has 97,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a 140,000-strong international force. US Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, ISAF's deputy chief of staff, last month spelled out the support it believes Iran is giving to insurgents in Afghanistan. "They are giving them a limited amount of bullets, technical pieces of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), rockets, RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) through networks well-established through the border," he said. He added the situation was "not a major concern" but warned Iran could increase its support "overnight."
earlier related report The soldier was killed while on operations in the Nad-e Ali North area of the restive Helmand Province. The death brings to 359 the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Of these, at least 315 were killed through hostile action. It was the 11th British fatality this year. "The soldier was participating in an operation to disrupt insurgent activity... when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device," spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman, said. "The soldier gave his life pursuing peace and stability for a people that had been dominated by insurgent subjugation, threats and intimidation. "We vow to carry on his vital work in the face of such cowardly and indiscriminate attacks," he said.
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