U.S. troops seize weapons in Afghanistan
Documents, airplane model also found
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. troops in Afghanistan said Monday they seized a cache of weapons, documents and other items -- including a model of a 757 jetliner -- from suspected al Qaeda fighters over the weekend.
Among the items seized were rocket-propelled grenades, machine gun ammunition, laptop computers, passports and "propaganda related to Osama bin Laden," according to a statement released Monday from U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base.
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"Female soldiers involved in the search discovered some of the hand grenades hidden under women's clothes," the statement said.
The items turned up during a U.S. patrol in southeastern Afghanistan, east of the city of Khowst. U.S. troops have been targets for suspected Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the region, which was the scene of recent clashes between Afghan government forces and troops loyal to a local warlord.
A U.S. outpost in the area came under attack by rockets and small arms fire on Friday. American troops called in Air Force A-10 ground attack jets to aid them in a two-hour firefight, a military spokesman said.
In addition, special operations troops discovered a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with 50 grenades, a Russian-made machine gun, "a large bag carrying official documents" -- including a pass for crossing the border into Pakistan, where large numbers of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are believed to have taken refuge -- and a 20-inch model of a Boeing 757 jetliner with Air China markings.
Two of the four jetliners hijacked in the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were 757s. But Pentagon officials said it was too early to comment on the significance of the model, or on the weapons and documents.
-- CNN producers Vivian Paulsen and Mike Mount contributed to this report.
