Coalition Troops Seek the Last Militants

Waves of Chinook helicopters carrying several hundred Canadian troops took off here Saturday for a fresh operation in eastern Afghanistan, another sign that coalition forces were stepping up their campaign against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

In the south, American Special Forces and Afghan troops disarmed an entire village suspected of harboring sympathizers of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, U.S. military spokesman Army Maj. Bryan Hilferty said.

And in the southeast, a 1,000-strong British-led force continued a massive sweep through the hillsides, seizing 2,000 rounds of automatic weapons ammunition in a cave, according to Royal Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Harradine.

Each of the missions falls under the umbrella of Operation Mountain Lion--the overall U.S.-led search for Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants in the eastern half of Afghanistan.

Both Operation Torii and Operation Snipe, under Canadian and British command respectively, are backed by U.S. air support and Afghan ground forces. A small number of U.S. troops from the 101st Airborne Division also was participating.

“Things are going well and there have been no battlefield casualties reported,” said Col. John Collin, the senior Canadian officer in Afghanistan. One Canadian soldier, however, injured his leg and was evacuated by helicopter.

American Lt. Col. Christopher Pease said the Canadian operation was “in probably the roughest terrain we have experienced to date since we’ve been in Afghanistan.”

He described it as taking place in a mountainous area where altitudes range from 7,000 feet to 11,000 feet. Allied military officials refused to describe the location in further detail.

Pease said Operation Torii’s objective was to gain intelligence on Al Qaeda and could take two days to several weeks to complete. “They’ll stay out there until they’re done,” he said.

The operation was the first major deployment of Canadian troops since April 18, when an American F-16 pilot on a night patrol dropped a 500-pound bomb on Canadian troops conducting a live-fire training exercise near the southern city of Kandahar. Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured.

Pease said Afghan and U.S. special forces had surveyed the area in the east over the last few days and secured a landing zone for the Canadians. They would sweep the area together, he said.

The operations are part of amplified efforts to hunt down what’s left of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, both of which U.S. officials say have dispersed into small groups since the last major combat operation against them in March.

Hilferty, the U.S. military spokesman, said coalition forces had disarmed an entire village in the south Friday after intelligence suggested that the residents include Al Qaeda sympathizers. A cache of weapons was seized, including an antiaircraft gun.

“They weren’t terribly happy, but there was no resistance,” Hilferty told reporters at Bagram air base. He refused to identify the town.