February 5, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 3,1423

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KANDAHAR, Feb 4: More than 300 Afghan soldiers were on Tuesday hunting down suspected extremists in southern Afghanistan after an outbreak of fighting, a military spokesman said.

Lt Col Agha Lalai, a senior commander in Kandahar province, said Afghan troops came under fire during a disarmament programme at Kardwey, 120 kilometres south of Kandahar city.

“About 200 troops went there yesterday (Monday) to carry out disarmament. They came under fire and we sent around 150 more men today,” Lalai said.

He said fighting was continuing on Tuesday, adding the extremists were remnants of the Al Qaeda network and the Taliban.

The fighting, close to the border with Pakistan, comes a week after heavy fighting around 80 kilometres southeast of Kandahar between US-led troops and guerillas resulted in the deaths of at least 18 guerillas.

US troops were continuing to scour a massive mountain cave complex, clearing more than two-thirds of 75 identified caverns which are believed to form a base for supporters of the anti-government Hezb-i-Islami.

Last week’s clash at Adi Ghar, involving US and Norwegian bombers, was the biggest encounter involving American troops in Afghanistan since March last year.

Lalai said he had no details of casualties from the fighting in the mountainous area of Kardwey, but described the battle as “light”.

“It is not heavy fighting, just people firing Kalashnikovs (rifles) at our men. We’re not sure how many they are, but they don’t appear to have many weapons and they cannot give us much resistance.

“I expect my men will overwhelm their mountain positions very quickly,” he said.

Mr Lalai said the US military had been informed of the action, but was not currently involved.

A US military spokesman at Bagram air base, a facility north of Kabul which acts as the centre of US operations in Afghanistan, said he had no immediate information about the fighting.

Lalai said the conflict at Kardwey, which saw an outbreak of conflict late last year, may be linked to the Adi Ghar clash.

The US military says Hezb-i-Islami, led by renegade Afghan former premier Gulbduddin Hekmatyar, is in league with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who are seeking fresh allies after being scattered by a 16-month coalition campaign.

All three extremist groups have also been linked by officials to a massive landmine explosion to the south of Kandahar which killed nine people on Friday. Eight people have been arrested for the blast.

Lalai blamed the apparent upsurge in violence in Kandahar on extremists regrouping in Pakistan before returning over the porous border.

But he denied the situation represented a major deterioration in security in the area.

“After two decades of fighting in the country, it is very difficult to solve all the problems in one or two years. There are Taliban still in this area, but at least now we are able to send the troops to tackle them.

“It is getting safer day by day.”

Danish F-16s: Danish F-16 fighters on Tuesday bombed targets on the ground in Afghanistan for the first time in the US-led the war on terrorism.

Defence Minister Svend Aage Jesby told a session of the Danish parliament in Copenhagen that two F-16s fired a total of four, 250-kilo laser- guided bombs at ground targets in southeastern Afghanistan.

The raid was carried out at the request of US forces hunting down remnants of the former ruling Taliban militia and suspected Al Qaeda fighters, Jesby said.

The announcement marked the first time the government has disclosed specific information on the activities of Danish aircraft in the war on terror.

The two F-16s were on a routine patrol over Afghanistan when US ground forces requested the strike, said Danish airforce press officer Captain Karsten Marrup.

The aircraft returned safely to a US base in neighbouring Kyrghyzstan where they are stationed, Marrup said.

A total of six Danish F-16s have been stationed in Kyrghyzstan as part of the international coalition fighting terrorism.

Danish pilots over the past year have flown 260 missions over Afghanistan, logging around 1,600 flying hours but not using their weapons until now.—Agencies