Hundreds of US soldiers began an air assault today as a major operation to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives expanded in southern Afghanistan.
The operation, which started at the same time as the war in Iraq last Thursday, is being carried out in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province, with up to 100 men targeted, said a US military spokesman.
He said another large find of weapons, the third since the operation began, was found as US troops swept through the eastern part of the province.
US-led forces conducted an air assault in the Samighar mountains today in support of "Operation Valiant Strike", the spokesman said.
Thousands of US and allied troops are searching Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden and members of his al-Qaeda network, prime suspects in the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States, as well as leaders of the Taliban regime that sheltered them.