SIDI BIN NUR: A top US official said on Sunday that a team of US and Libyan bomb disposal experts has secured about 5,000 surface-to-air missiles stockpiled during the regime of Moamer Kadhafi.
"We have identified, disbanded and secured more than 5,000 MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defence Systems), while thousands more have been destroyed during NATO bombing," Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs told a group of reporters.
Dozens of these missiles were detonated along the shore facing Sidi Bin Nur village, east of Tripoli, as Shapiro, on a one-day visit to Libya, witnessed the event from a nearby secured house.
A joint US and Libyan team of bomb disposal experts has been working for several months now to find these missing missiles which are seen as potential threat to civil aviation.
MANPADS are perceived as potential weapons which can be used by militant groups against commercial airliners and helicopters. These missiles have been widely used in military conflicts.
0 comments:
Post a Comment