Special-operations snipers slay 9 suspected Taliban

By The Associated Press

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KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. special-operations snipers killed nine suspected Taliban militants in the Afghan mountains bordering Pakistan, the military said yesterday. It was one of the American forces' deadliest engagements in months.

The fighting began when as many as 40 suspected Taliban tried to flank the position held by the Americans and their Afghan army allies, a spokesman said.

The military wouldn't say if the clash marked the start of a spring offensive to capture Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Over the past two weeks, U.S. commanders have pledged what they call a hammer-and-anvil approach for the spring thaw into summer. Under that plan, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region where terror suspects are thought to be hiding becomes the anvil against which terror suspects would be hammered, the military said.

The Friday operation in which the Taliban fighters were killed involved a roughly 10-man U.S. special-operations group, military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said at the U.S. base in Kabul.

It occurred near Orgun, 20 miles from the Pakistan border. None of the U.S. soldiers nor their Afghan allies was injured or killed, he said.

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