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U.S. Military Questions Suspected Gunman in Afghanistan
Thursday, March 21, 2002
(7:43 AM ET)
By Paul Haven
Associated Press Writer

U.S. Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck is shown here giving a briefing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Thursday, March 14. Hagenbeck this week predicted increased activity from remaining al-Qaida and Taliban fighters as the weather improves.
Image Credit: Mikhail Metzel -- The Associated Press.

Hagenbeck dismissed claims by Afghan commanders that many al-Qaida fighters managed to escape during the offensive.



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Only a few dozen corpses have been recovered, but Hagenbeck said that was because the bodies had been blown to bits by U.S. bombs.



BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- AP
The U.S. military on Thursday questioned a suspected gunman detained at the site of a battle with coalition forces that killed at least 10 enemy fighters earlier this week in eastern Afghanistan.

Coalition forces found the man after a sweep near an airfield where gunmen fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars on U.S. and Afghan troops Tuesday night, touching off a firefight that wounded one American soldier in the arm.

Maj. Bryan Hilferty, spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division, said the bodies were recovered after the attack, which U.S. officials say was likely launched by al-Qaida or Taliban fighters. The detainee was wounded and found among the dead, he said.

Hilferty would not say whether the dead were killed by bombing from an AC-130 gunship called in after coalition forces came under fire or if they had died of gunshot wounds. Three U.S.-allied Afghan fighters were also killed in an ambush at a roadblock near the Khost airport, Afghan officials said.

Tensions have been running for high for months in Khost, a one-time Taliban stronghold just 40 miles east of the main battlefield of Operation Anaconda, the biggest offensive of the Afghan war. The operation ended this week.

The commander of Operation Anaconda warned Wednesday that al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are trying to rebuild their forces in eastern Paktia province, calling them an "adaptable enemy" drawing on new flows of cash and support among the local population.
(More: The Nando Times News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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