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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Troops Search, Destroy al Qaeda Caves Near Pakistani Border

Aired June 03, 2002 - 05:16   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: About 150 U.S. troops are back at home base this morning after carrying out what's being called a lightning raid. Eastern Afghanistan was the target area.

And as CNN's Mike Boettcher reports, there's plenty of smoke in the sky there, but fewer caves on the ground.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... approximately Afghanistan time, 177 U.S. airborne soldiers, they are from Bravo Company of the 182nd Infantry, 101 Airborne Division. And they launched an air assault into this area in eastern Afghanistan. We cannot be any more exact about the location because the operation is under way.

It is felt by intelligence officials from the coalition that al Qaeda and Taliban will try to infiltrate into Afghanistan in the coming days to disrupt the political process here, that being the loya jirga, which is the council of elders, of tribal elders, who will elect new leadership in this country on June 10. So these operations are being launched.

It was a lightning raid. They thought that there would be as many as 16 al Qaeda or Taliban here but they had all gone from the location. What they did find were a series of caves and you saw the explosion as the army EOD teams here of Bravo Company blew those three caves. Now there are two more.

I walked through the caves today and there was not much of significance in terms of evidence. There were some burnt papers. And one of the caves actually looked to be a hospital for the mujahideen during the old Soviet Afghan war.

But this is a well known, well used infiltration route in eastern Afghanistan. It is one of the gateways that was used by al Qaeda during their years of operation in Afghanistan from 1996 on. It is the way people came in from Pakistan to go to training camps here.

So the operations continue by Bravo Company here somewhere in eastern Afghanistan and we'll keep you updated along the way as they progress.

COSTELLO: Mike Boettcher reporting there from Afghanistan.

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