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CNN Live At Daybreak

Operation Condor Called After Australian Special Forces Troops Shot At in Afghanistan

Aired May 17, 2002 - 06:31   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For more on Operation Condor, we want to go to CNN's Mike Boettcher, who is live in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mike, what can you tell us?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Operation Condor consists of 1,000 people, most of them British Royal Marines, some American and Australian elements.

It was hastily called last night after a small squad of Australian Special Forces troops were shot at in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. That force arrived there in the mountains last night. They are up there now. We don't know exactly what they are encountering. The Australian SAS troops there say they did kill what they believed were some al Qaeda and Taliban forces in that area.

Now, the announcement about the operation was made this morning by the leader of the British forces, Brigadier Roger Lane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. ROGER LANE, BRITISH ARMY: Destroyed (ph) the elements of task force Jacana (ph) supported by coalition air and aviation offsets, deployed into the mountains of southeast Afghanistan to assist the Australian SAS task force, who are engaged in combat in what we have called Operation Condor. I have deployed elements of 45 Commando group equipped with the full range of combat power by air and by road to close with the enemy and destroy them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOETTCHER: The British commander says he believes his forces are up against a substantial number of al Qaeda and Taliban, and he says the operation will carry on for several days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Mike, what is a substantial number? What does that mean?

BOETTCHER: I wish I knew. I mean, that is all we have right now. We don't even know exactly where the fighting is occurring. It seems to be in an area, where there are other reports of U.S. bombings on Thursday night by local Afghan officials near Khost.

They say variously either there was a U.S. bombing raid after two competing factions were fighting each other, two warlords fighting each other over territory in eastern Afghanistan. Another says that there was a bombing raid after Afghanis fired in the air during a wedding, and that firing occurred near a U.S. helicopter.

So the reports are very confusing. We only have minimal information. The significant fact is that a substantial force has been put in, 1,000 people, so that must mean that they believe that they are up against a substantial force -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I also wanted to ask you about this mysterious sickness that some British soldiers have come down with in Afghanistan. Do we know anymore about that?

BOETTCHER: Yes. Apparently, another 20 or so are reporting ill as well. When I left Bagram last night to come to Kabul, they said there had been no new reports, but apparently this morning there are more.

I had some sort of illness over the course of a couple of three days. It had similar symptoms. It can be very severe. Our satellite engineer, Allan (ph), also had it in a more severe form, and it seems to be very contagious, but they don't know exactly what it is.

COSTELLO: What are the symptoms?

BOETTCHER: Well, you have a very high fever. Mine got up to 102. Constant nausea, you are very lightheaded, you dehydrate quickly, you have very severe stomach cramps, and you just want to roll over and die. That's it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I'm glad you are feeling better this morning. We thank you for that live report -- Mike Boettcher live in Kabul this morning.

BOETTCHER: Thanks.

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