Afghan Cops Shoot Bomb-Carrying Bird

Animal walking on highway appeared to have antenna
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2014 4:56 PM CST
Afghan Cops Shoot Bomb-Carrying Bird
A police vehicle is parked seen near the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. Taliban fighters staged an attack Thursday evening in an upscale district in the Afghan capital Kabul. Witnesses described multiple explosions and bursts of gunfire in the Wazir Akbar Khan district,...   (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Police in Afghanistan were puzzled by a large bird walking on the highway: The animal, which wasn't a local species, appeared to have an antenna. They shot it—and it exploded, an official tells NBC News. It left "suspicious metal stuff" behind, Maj. Gen. Abdul Nabi Ilham says of the odd moment in Faryab province, where Taliban attacks are common.

Investigators "found parts of what looks to be GPS and a small camera," Ilham says, adding that police haven't experienced anything like it before. They say the bird could have been a surveillance tool. Animals have in the past been used to carry bombs, but it's rare, NBC notes. The site has graphic video of the dead bird. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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