US widens Afghan search

US widens Afghan search

Three lots of weapons have been found, US officials say

US-led troops are widening an operation in south-eastern Afghanistan against suspected extremists, officials say.

US spokesman Colonel Roger King said Operation Valiant Strike had now netted three large weapons hauls.

Some 600 troops are deployed in the campaign, concentrated in the Sami Ghar mountains.

Four people have been detained since the operation began last week.

"There was an air assault this morning to reposition forces to the north-east" of the Sami Ghar mountains, Colonel King told reporters at the US air base at Bagram.

Weapons revealed

Heavily armed helicopters had moved troops some 30 kilometres from where Operation Valiant Strike began, he said.

"There is probably the potential for there to be 50 to 100 of the people you would classify as enemy or people who support them in the area we are operating in."

However, Colonel King did not say whether the targets of the search were members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network or the Taleban.

He said there had been no clashes with rebel fighters and no soldiers had been injured.

The latest weapons cache to be seized includes more than 170 rocket-propelled grenades as well as mines and mortar round, Colonel King said, the Associated Press news agency reports.

'Full-spectrum operations'

Valiant Strike has seen a combination of air assaults and land offensives.

It began on 20 March shortly after an attack on US troops in a mountainous ravine.

Troops have since been sweeping the area, conducting "village clearing" operations, trying to collect intelligence and identifying potential rebel hide-outs.

They are also seeking loyalists of local renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the US has branded a terrorist.

US officers deny the operation was timed to coincide with the US-led attack on Iraq.

"This sends a really powerful message that we're not backing off in Afghanistan that we're fully capable of full-spectrum large combat operations," one spokesman said.