Iraqi police nabbed a huge arms cache Saturday evening on the Kirkuk to Mosul road in northern Iraq that insurgents could have been planning to use in anti-US attacks, said the regional police commander.Police found 55 boxes, each containing 16 120 mm mortar shells, three launching pads, Kalashnikov shotguns, 50 kilos of TNT explosives, detonators, wire cable and time switches, said Abdel Karim al-Jabburi.
The boxes were found on a disused former Iraqi military base, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Kirkuk not far from a near-by US base.
Jabburi said he suspected that the arms stash could have been used in anti-US attacks that have plagued the area since the fall of president Saddam Hussein in April.
Police have asked US troops to destroy the ammunition, he added.
The commander also said that a plot to blow up a bridge on the Kirkuk to Mosul road had been foiled Saturday, after a tip-off from villagers.
Iraqi police and US forces defused a 75-kg (165-pound) device packed with TNT, he said.
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