U.S. calls in air power in firefight between Afghans

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. air power was called in to break up a firefight between two rival groups of Afghans.

Early Thursday morning, the two groups of armed Afghans got into a firefight south of Jalalabad. The fighting broke out near where U.S. Special Forces were operating, according to a U.S. military official.

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One group was an Afghan military force that had, in the past, worked with U.S. Special Forces troops. The identity of the other group was not clear.

The nearby U.S. Special Forces called in close air support aircraft as a "show of force," to stop the fighting, officials said. The aircraft dropped a bomb on a nearby empty mountainside, and the other force apparently ran off.

In other activity, U.S. Special Forces operating near Khowst discovered a cave that contained a Soviet-made armored personnel carrier that appeared to be in good condition.

A civil-military assistance team has arrived in the village of Deh Rawod where on July 1 U.S. aircraft attacked what they said were anti-aircraft artillery sites, but dozens of civilians were killed and injured.

Although the area is pro-Taliban, the local tribal chief asked for U.S. assistance to help provide more security in the area. A team of U.S. investigators is in Uzbekistan talking to the crew of the AC-130 gunship and trying to determine why the aircraft's infrared camera may not have picked up the gunfire seen by ground controllers.