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Two Firefights In Afghanistan

U.S.-led special forces in the past two days have fought suspected al Qaeda fighters in two firefights near the eastern border with Pakistan, killing up to four of them. No coalition casualties were reported.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, said the clashes occurred Monday and early Tuesday near the eastern Afghan city of Khost, just over a mile from the Pakistan border.

Coalition forces have been stepping up the hunt for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters along the border. At the same time, fighting between rival warlords has been heating up in the nearby parts of eastern Afghanistan, threatening to undermine support for the interim national government in Kabul and complicating the job of the coalition forces.

Almost simultaneously with Hagenbeck's announcement at Bagram air base, Australian officials said in Canberra that Australian Special Air Service Regiment troops had shot two al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.

Hagenbeck said two suspected al-Qaida gunmen were shot Monday but their bodies were dragged away by fellow fighters. Two others were killed Tuesday at 4:30 a.m. local time in a follow-up operation.

"We knew how they would react once the sun went down last night. So we were ready for that and we killed two ... as they were coming back through the area," Hagenbeck told reporters at Bagram air base, north of Kabul.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Bryan Hilferty said coalition special forces had been staking out the area for two days when allied troops came under fire by a group of three suspected al-Qaida fighters on Monday morning. He declined to give the nationalities of coalition soldiers deployed there.

"We had a special forces reconnaissance team in the area. They were compromised and people found them," Hilferty said. "Those people foolishly fired on them and special forces fired back much more accurately, shooting and possibly killing two of them."

Hilferty said a 200-man quick reaction force - two infantry companies from the 101st Airborne Division - were dispatched two hours later to sweep seven buildings and nearby caves.

"They found and searched several caves and building complexes, discovering mortars, grenades and machine-gun ammunition," Hilferty said.

He said the surviving fighters appeared to be part of a larger group that had fled into surrounding mountains.

The clashes occurred the same eastern region where the last major battles against the Taliban and al-Qaida were fought in March during Operation Anaconda - the largest U.S.-led ground offensive in Afghanistan.

Hilferty conceded that the security situation in eastern Afghanistan had deteriorated, but that wasn't stopping coalition troops from conducting operations.

"Certainly over the last couple weeks it's gotten a little worse in the Khost and Gardez area, but still we are free to move around," Hilferty said.

In Canberra, a spokesman for the Australian Defense Force said the small Australian patrol returned fire when four al-Qaida fighters opened up on them with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

The spokesman, Brigadier Mike Hannan, said the two al-Qaida fighters were either killed or wounded, but that no Australians were injured.

Hannan said the firefight occurred Monday morning as an undisclosed number of Australian troops conducted surveillance on a suspected terrorist site southeast of the capital Kabul.

He said other Australian special forces and troops from the United States 101st Airborne then went into the area.

Factional fighting continued Tuesday nearby in the eastern city of Gardez. Hezat Ullah, a local official, said from Gardez that rockets were fired into the city on Monday, killing three civilians and injuring three more.

Up to 28 people have been killed in fighting there between soldiers loyal to warlord Bacha Khan Zardran and forces of Gardez Gov. Taj Mohammed Wardak.

In other war-related developments:

  • Turkey has officially agreed to take charge of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan for six months after Britain ends its turn in the next month or so. Turkey is the only Muslim country that has contributed to the force.
  • The prosecutor in the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl said he wants to move the trial to a safer place, preferably outside Karachi.
  • British military officials say British forces will give most al-Qaida or Taliban fighters they capture to Afghanistan's interim government, not the United States.
  • The FBI said several staff members from the Saudi Arabian Embassy were detained while trying to board a flight in Houston Sunday. They were released after their identities were confirmed.
  • Part of a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport was evacuated Monday for investigation of a possible security problem. Officials determined there was no real threat, and passengers were allowed back in within two hours.
  • Two Republican lawmakers are bucking the White House and backing an effort to let pilots carry guns in cockpits.
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