Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Al Qaeda Fighters Killed in Afghanistan

Aired April 30, 2002 - 12:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour though, renewed fighting in eastern Afghanistan. As we reported, the U.S. says four enemy fighters were killed in two separate skirmishes since yesterday. U.S. officials say the dead belong to al Qaeda.

Bill Delaney live in Kabul with more on the flare-up in fighting there.

Bill, hello.

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well thank you, Bill.

You know it was just yesterday, Bill, we were north of here at Bagram Air Base, a place you know rather well, attending a military briefing with U.S. military officials who told us there hadn't been any kind of major fire fight here in Afghanistan for a couple of weeks, something of a military lull here. How quickly things can change.

It was Monday and into Tuesday morning, as you said, that in the town of Khowst, which is in eastern Afghanistan, just about a mile or so from the Pakistan border, U.S.-led Special Forces -- coalition forces killed four al Qaeda terrorists.

Now the U.S. Special Forces -- the coalition forces had been in eastern Afghanistan on a reconnaissance mission for a couple of days when they came under fire from at least three al Qaeda. They returned fire, killed at least two of them. The 101st Airborne then brought in 200 soldiers -- two companies of infantry soldiers, Bill, brought in. They began to search caves, several buildings. They found a lot of machine gun ammunition. They found mortars. They found other weapons in these caves and buildings. Subsequent to that, forces again engaged al Qaeda fighters and killed two more.

Now all of this in eastern Afghanistan where that big Operation Anaconda took place in March. But the kind of thing we're talking about now much more typical of the sort of fighting that's going on here now. It's sporadic, it's against small groups of al Qaeda and usually involving small groups of special forces engaging each other only rarely and primarily in eastern Afghanistan.

Now also in eastern Afghanistan, in Paktia Province, in Gardez, not far from Khowst, in the past couple of days, factional fighting between a former governor there who's been shelling the town with rockets has killed dozens of people in the past few days. He is angry about the new governor there.

Factional fighting in eastern Afghanistan as well as the fire fight we've described, Afghanistan, Bill, still a very violent place.

Back to you.

HEMMER: And, Bill, from your location, are you able to witness or see, let's say, soldiers or troops heading east from Bagram in any sort of a unified pattern or fashion that might suggest that there is a continued buildup there, or is that something that is out of your vision?

DELANEY: Well up at Bagram you see a constant sense of A-10 Warthog fighter planes coming and going, a lot of Apache helicopters coming and going, Chinook helicopters coming and going, a lot of activity on that level at Bagram. But as I say, the special forces that are leaving from there, leave out of our eyesight, we didn't see any of them there. And they're in -- when they're not leaving from Bagram, they're already in eastern Afghanistan and working out of towns like Khowst, this is in fact very difficult stuff to see. These guys are doing everything they can not to be seen. So this is very much a shadowy war at this point, Bill, had hard to see, but it continues -- Bill.

HEMMER: Indeed you are right there, Bill, thanks. Bill Delaney live in Kabul.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com