DTN News: Afghanistan Drug Sweep Leaves 63 Dead

DTN News: Afghanistan Drug Sweep Leaves 63 Dead

Source: DTN News / The Associated Press

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - July 5, 2010: The Afghan government says 63 drug smugglers and militants have been killed and 14.5 tonnes of drugs and drug-making chemicals have been destroyed in southern Afghanistan. The Ministry of Interior said Sunday that 10 other men involved in the drug trade, including some foreigners, were arrested in a two-day operation conducted by a counternarcotics unit assisted by coalition forces along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. The ministry said 14 Afghan civilians being held by the militants and smugglers were freed during the operation that ended Sunday at Baramcha in southern Helmand province. Authorities said they also confiscated a cache of weapons, explosives and suicide vests and destroyed two drug laboratories.