Weapons cache found, IEDs defused in eastern Afghan operations

Security forces discovered a Taliban weapons cache and defused six Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in operations in restive eastern Afghan provinces, the NATO-led coalition said Tuesday. "Afghan and coalition forces located a weapons cache and cleared six improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the coalition' s Regional Command-East said in a statement. The weapons cache was found in eastern Ghazni province, the statement said, adding the IEDs were found and defused in Ghazni, Khost, Laghman, Logar and Nangarhar province. Operations in RC-East are still ongoing, it said. Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have often attacked Afghan and NATO-led forces with IEDs and roadside bombs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. Two Afghan security forces were killed and 15 people including 14 civilians were wounded in Taliban suicide car bombing in Helmand province 555 km south of Kabul on Monday.