The top commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan says weapons intercepted in the country last month originated in Iran.
U.S. Army General Dan McNeill said Thursday NATO forces stopped a convoy from Iran on September 5 in western Afghanistan. He said the convoy contained a number of advanced technology improvised explosive devices.
McNeill said it is hard to believe that a shipment of hi-tech explosives could have originated in Iran and come to Afghanistan without the knowledge of the Iranian military.
U.S. leaders have accused Iran of arming the Taleban insurgency in Afghanistan, a charge that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied.
Taleban insurgents have increased their use of suicide and roadside bombs against foreign and Afghan troops.
In other news, NATO officials say nine soldiers were wounded Wednesday when Taleban rebels ambushed a patrol in the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar.
And at least four Afghan police officers were killed and three others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan in the eastern province of Khost.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
