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Marines Hunt for Gunmen Who Attacked Kandahar Airport Base
Friday, January 11, 2002
(12:53 PM ET)
By Ellen Knickmeyer
The Associated Press

The firefight at Kandahar airport illustrated how the area around the city -- the birthplace of the overthrown Taliban regime -- remains insecure.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- AP
U.S. Marines were hunting Friday for gunmen who attacked their airport base in Kandahar during the first high-security flight of al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners to a U.S. base in Cuba, where they will be questioned and possibly tried.

The attack triggered a brief but intense gun battle, the first on the base since the Marines dug in a month ago.

There were differing accounts on whether the attackers were directly targeting the C-17 transport plane, which took off from the base Thursday with 20 chained and hooded prisoners on board, headed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Marines who were on the front lines during the firefight said the gunmen fired at the plane as it took off. Officers at the base, however, said the attack was unconnected to the transfer. Commander Dan Keesee at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., said the exchange of gunfire occurred 15 minutes after the plane took off.
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2002 © The Associated Press.

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