KABUL, Afghanistan'In a renewed offensive to sweep Taliban and al Qaeda holdouts from their mountain lairs, British Royal Marines, backed by U.S. Special Forces and other troops, scoured the caves and crevices of eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.
The British-led offensive of about 1,000 fighters, code-named Operation Snipe, appears to be employing a pincer movement, with troops closing in on a network of caves and hide-outs from both sides of the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.
U.S.-led coalition forces have already made numerous attempts to kill or capture Osama bin Laden's loyalists hiding in the hostile eastern territory. But each time, some fighters have managed to escape'and some of them are thought to be across the poorly guarded border, which is delineated by soaring peaks and laced with circuitous tunnels.
U.S. and Pakistani authorities have confirmed a troop buildup on the Pakistani side, where local tribes still strongly support Afghanistan's deposed Taliban regime and its religious extremism.
At Bagram air base, an hour's drive north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, British Brig. Roger Lane declined to specify the area targeted by Operation Snipe. Royal Marines spokesperson Lt. Col. Paul Harradine denied that it was the Khowst-Gardez area where coalition troops have been seen in increasing numbers this week.
Lane said the target of the offensive is \one of the few remaining areas that has never before been investigated by coalition ground forces, and we have good reason to believe that it is or has been a key base for the al Qaeda terrorist network.'
Harradine said U.S. Apache attack helicopters and A-10 Warthog jets were on hand to provide air cover.
U.S. forces on both sides of the border have come under repeated attack in the last few days. As many as four rockets were fired Thursday at the Khowst airport, where U.S. troops are based. It was the second attack on the site in two weeks. U.S. positions in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, just across the border, were hit with rocket fire Wednesday.
The attacks have not resulted in casualties or serious damage, but they do illustrate the hazards that coalition forces face as they confront a determined enemy on its own turf.
Coalition forces patrolling eastern Afghanistan have encountered Taliban and al Qaeda stragglers this week, killing four in two exchanges of fire at close range Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, Australian forces killed another al Qaeda suspect they encountered on patrol, an Australian military spokesman in Canberra said.
Most of the Operation Snipe force was deployed Monday, but none of the troops assigned to the mission has yet come into contact with enemy forces, Harradine said.
British troops make up about half of the force, with about 100 U.S. Special Forces soldiers providing support along with Canadians, Australians and several hundred Afghan allies.
