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UK marines lead new al Qaeda hunt

A British marines convoy sets off for the mountains at the start of Operation Snipe

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- One thousand British-led troops have begun a major new operation in southeastern Afghanistan to clear a new mountain area believed to have been a key base for al Qaeda fighters.

The UK-led mission, dubbed "Operation Snipe," will be supported by U.S. air power and U.S. special operations troops, a U.S. military spokesman said.

"A potent force of around 1,000-strong and equipped with the full range of combat power at my disposal has been deployed by air and by land to first secure... a large and challenging area in what is a strategic key location for our enemy," British commander Brig. Roger Lane told The Associated Press at Bagram air base.

In London, the Ministry of Defence said the operation -- the second to be launched by Britain's 45 Commando since it arrived in the country last month -- was aimed at an area known to have been used by al Qaeda.

The marines had not encountered any enemy forces by Thursday morning. "If they do they will capture or destroy," an MoD spokeswoman said.

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Royal Marines spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Harradine told Reuters that U.S. conventional troops, special forces and aircraft, including Apache attack helicopters and A-10 "Warthog" jets, were involved but he declined to give specific details of their part.

Asked if al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could be in the area, Harradine said "it would be wonderful if he was." But he said he had no intelligence to that effect.

Coalition forces have been building up operations along the Afghan border with Pakistan, but British officers said this was in a new area of southeast Afghanistan.

Lane said its was "one of the few remaining areas that has never before been investigated by coalition ground forces," though he declined to be specific about the location.

Earlier, Pentagon officials in Washington spoke of a buildup of multinational forces along the border with Pakistan -- raising the possibility of a new major thrust against remaining al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

The officials said several hundred Afghans, Australians, British and soldiers from the United States' 101st Airborne Division were deploying for missions aimed at finding enemy fighters.

British Royal Marine commandoes board a Chinook helicopter to be taken to the theatre of operations

At the same time, U.S. forces in recent weeks have begun search operations on the other side of the border, in Pakistan. On Wednesday, U.S. forces in that hostile border region of Pakistan came under hostile fire for the first time since they launched operations there.

Harradine said four fighting companies of the 45 Commando were deployed, supported by 105 mm howitzer gun batteries. A British fighting company numbers about 120 men.

"The success of this operation will not be measured solely in a count of the number of dead terrorists," he said. "We will first seek out and destroy all the terrorist infrastructure in this region and, of course, do likewise for any al Qaeda forces that we encounter."

Lane said Afghan troops were also involved in the operation, but military officials declined to give any further breakdown or say where exactly it was taking place.

About 1,700 British troops have deployed to Bagram. In April, about 400 mostly British troops completed a five-day mission dubbed Operation Ptarmigan.

The troops found "terrorist facilities," documents and anti-aircraft ammunition in the Shah-i-Kot area near the Pakistani border, but did not come under fire. Allies said the area has been a key resupply route for al Qaeda and Taliban soldiers.

The Royal Marines, whose base is in Arbroath, Scotland, are trained in mountain warfare and are in Afghanistan to help U.S.-led coalition flush out pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters gone to ground in Afghanistan's rugged terrain.