WASHINGTON: US forces are searching cave complexes and bunkers in eastern Afghanistan to find information that US officials say could be used to thwart further terrorist attacks by the Al-Qaeda network, the commander of American forces in the region said on Friday.

US personnel already are in possession of computers, hard drives and diaries, as well as “several filing cabinets full of documentary evidence that we have taken out and are in the process of going through very methodically right now,” Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of the US Central Command, told reporters.

Franks said the search is focused around the towns of Khost and Gardez, an area in the vicinity of a massive cave complex at Zhawar Kili that was subjected to nearly two weeks of airstrikes this month. Defence Department officials have said the region includes pockets of Al-Qaeda and Taliban resistance.

“We have forces there now, working with Afghan units, out finding and working our way through some of these cave complexes and bunker sites,” Franks said, adding: “We’re in a hurry to get to them, because ... we want to pre-empt the possibility of a future attack or gain insights into that.”

There are signs that the information being acquired in Afghanistan is reaping some benefits for the US-led war on terrorism. The Justice Depart-ment on Thursday released excerpts of videotapes recently discovered in the bombed house of slain Al-Qaeda commander Muhammad Atef showing five men who it said may be planning suicide attacks against Western targets. US officials last week credit seized information with foiling attacks planned in Singapore.

Although officials have not connected them with the intelligence-collection effort, there has been a new round of arrests of suspected terrorists in recent days in the Philippines, Bosnia and Britain.

Franks, without offering specific examples, said the information being uncovered in Afghanistan is being used to build a “mosaic” to combat terrorism around the globe. “It would be accurate to say insights have been gained, such as the insights into the potential problem in Singapore,” Franks said.

Franks offered no information, however, about whether the US government had learned anything new about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden or Mohammad Omar. hE and other US officials discounted comments made on Friday by President Perez Musharraf, in which he said Osama is most likely dead because he was unable to get treatment for a kidney ailment.

“I would give the first priority that he is dead and the second priority that he is alive somewhere in Afghanistan,” Musharraf said in an interview with CNN.

Asked to comment, Franks said, “I’ve received no intelligence to that effect ... I’ve not seen anything in intelligence that would confirm or deny that.”

A senior US official said the CIA also had no information to support Musharraf’s statement.

A US official said, “We don’t have any evidence that he has been on kidney dialysis.” The official added, “There have been rumours that he has health problems, maybe kidney stones.”

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that bin Laden is likely still in Afghanistan, but Franks seemed less confident of this Friday. “We really don’t know where he is, whether he’s in Afghanistan or whether he may have left,” he said. In his comments Friday, Franks characterized the work by US forces in eastern Afghanistan more as an intelligence-gathering effort than a manhunt.

In addition to information, Franks said, the forces have found significant amounts of ammunition and equipment. “We have found an awful lot,” Franks said. “We have learned an awful lot. We have not yet found any weapons of mass destruction. We have found potential. We have certainly found a desire on the part of Al-Qaeda to have weapons of mass destruction.”

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived on Friday at the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the military is holding 110 detainees. For US commanders, the prisoners may hold more secrets that could lead to further intelligence gains, Franks said. “The first thing we know is that we want to interrogate these detainees for intelligence value,” he said.—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post