Marines foil rocket attack

Royal Marines hunting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan foiled a rocket attack on one of their forward operating bases, a RM spokesman said today.

Two 107mm rockets were discovered by a local warlord yesterday around 7km away from a staging post in the east of the country used as a logistical support base, Lt Col Ben Curry said from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

They were rigged up to an improvised mortar base, with a crude water timer, he said.

The water would have dripped out of a container and once it was empty, a circuit would have been completed and the rockets fired at the base.

The warlord had dismantled the mortar base.

Lt Col Curry said: ‘‘It was a primitive timer and the way they were lined up was pretty inaccurate.

‘‘But it was a serious incident.

‘‘We have since withdrawn from the area, as we had planned to do before this incident.’’