US Sends Forces To Capture Omar

Jan 01, 2002

Kandahar, Tuesday - Scores of US troops in battle gear lifted off in helicopters from the US military base here just before sunset on Monday,

Kandahar, Tuesday - Scores of US troops in battle gear lifted off in helicopters from the US military base here just before sunset on Monday, according to witnesses, in what Afghanistan’s new leader said was an operation aimed at capturing Taliban leader Mohammad Omar. Witnesses described the troops as US Marines, but US military officials denied that Marines were involved in such an operation. Three double-rotor Sea Knight transport helicopters, each bearing about 20 men , lifted off between 5:00 and 6:00pm local time from Kandahar International Airport, according to two photojournalists who witnessed the preparations and departure. The aircraft steered to the northwest, the direction of northern Helmand province, where Omar reportedly had found refuge near the mountain village of Baghran, about 100 miles from Kandahar. “If he’s there, he’ll be arrested,” Hamid Karzai, head of Afghanistan’s interim government, told the Associated Press in Kabul. “We are determined to see him arrested.” Another three helicopters stood by for loading, the witness said. Commanding officers who gathered around battle plans that were spread out on the ground, were overheard delivering pep talks to their assembled units. The US forces, whom the witness identified as Marines, waited with equipment piled before them on the tarmac: body armour, night-vision goggles and light weapons, including machine-guns and rocket launchers. No heavy packs or camping gear were visible, the witnesses said. At 2:00am yesterday, another large American force headed by road in the direction of Helmand. A convoy of about 20 vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, Humvees and troop trucks, drove through Kandahar toward the northwest, trailed by some taxis filled with armed Afghans. A top spokesman for the Us Central Command in Tampa, Fla., on Monday denied reports that Marines had ben dispatched on a hunt for Omar or any other mission. “It’s completely wrong,” said rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a spokesman for the Central Command which is directing the war. “No one has gone anywhere. They’re flat wrong.” Quigley said the commanders at Kandahar had confirmed that no Marine had left the airport. The Washington Post Ends

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