U.S. Seizes 7 Taliban Suspects

U.S. Special Forces soldiers have seized seven men suspected of being Taliban fighters and truckloads of weapons in an operation near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Thursday.

The arms found at Orgun, about 110 miles south of Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Wednesday filled three trucks and included rockets, mines and two antiaircraft guns, said Col. Roger King, a U.S. military spokesman. He called it “a significant haul.”

He said the soldiers had discovered literature in the compound where the men were found calling for a holy war against coalition and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations’ special envoy for Afghanistan, said the world body will investigate alleged war crimes and mass graves where many people died under “suspicious circumstances”--including a mass grave near the northern town of Sheberghan where as many as 1,000 Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters reportedly suffocated in container trucks after surrendering.

Brahimi, who earlier had indicated that he did not favor a full inquiry, said additional security will be needed from the Afghan government, local authorities and the international community to enable investigators to do their work.