WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- Officials in the United States and elsewhere say they are worried anti-aircraft missiles captured by Libyan rebels could be sold to terrorists.
There's no direct evidence rebels intend to sell the missiles, which can be carried but the possibility exists some of the rockets will end up in terrorists' hands, The New York Times reported.
In the five months since the uprising began in Egypt, rebels captured dozens of the missiles. Most were probably used by rebel fighters against the regime of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, but government officials fear terrorists might use missing missiles to bring down civilian jetliners.
Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant U.S. secretary of state for political-military affairs, said worrying about unsecured missiles in Egypt is "one of the things that keep[s] me up at night."
The Times said some of the missiles have disappeared from storage bunkers captured by rebels fighting to overthrow Gadhafi.
Two other U.S. officials, speaking anonymously, said after the initial loss of the SA-7 missiles the American government repeatedly asked the de facto rebel authority, the National Transitional Council, to collect and secure the weapons to prevent more from getting loose.
When the arms depot at Ga'a fell, rebels showed up and took what they wanted, the Times said.
"The rebels came from all over the western mountains, and they just took what they wanted," a supervisor of the ruined arsenal's small contingent of rebel guards said.
