Marines sweep up al Qaeda resistance

More than 1,000 Royal Marines are involved in a major operation aimed at removing the "cancer of al Qaeda" from the Afghan mountains.

Operation Snipe, a gigantic military sweep, involves 45 Commando and began this week in secret. The Marines are being backed by Apache helicopter gunships and A-10 attack bombers.

All four rifle companies - Whisky, X-Ray, Yankee and Zulu - of 45 Commando are now deployed in the hills, along with six howitzers of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery.

The "capture or destroy" action is taking place in the mountains near the town of Khost, long a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. Brigadier Roger Lane, speaking at Bagram airbase today, said the area was "a key strategic location, a natural crossroads from where (the terrorists) could move north, east, south and west".

He added: "Operation Snipe and other operations like it ... would in time remove the cancer of al Qaeda from the very heart of Afghanistan". He said commandos had been deployed by "air and land" to "a large and very challenging area" of mountain terrain.

Brigadier Lane said: "By doing so we will make a real and sustained impact on the ability of al Qaeda to develop secure bases in Afghanistan for future terrorist activities." Officials hope the sweep will net hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to be hiding in the hills.

The Ministry of Defence said the operation - the second to be launched by 45 Commando since arriving in the country last month - was aimed at an area known to have been used by al Qaeda.

The Marines have so far not encountered enemy forces. "If they do they will capture or destroy," a MoD spokeswoman said.

Brigadier Lane said of his troops: "Morale is sky high." He said Marines are on the ground searching a large area of terrain, adding: "We have good reason to believe that it is or has been a key base for the al Qaeda network. The success of this operation will not be measured in the number of dead terrorists.

"Even more importantly we will then seek to hand over control of the area to Afghan forces and enable access to civil aid agencies. There has been no fighting with the enemy so far and no casualties among coalition forces. There is no time limit for the termination of the operation." Royal Marines spokesman Lt Colonel Paul Harradine said: "The risk of casualties is always there. We will achieve the mission regardless."

Earlier US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the al Qaeda and Taliban remnants still pose a threat to the newly-installed interim administration of Hamid Karzai.

"They do have it in mind that they would like to return. And they do have it in mind that they'd like to destabilise, and if possible defeat, the interim Afghan authority," he told a Pentagon news conference.