Place bin Laden hid is raided by U.S.-led force

BAGRAMI, Afghanistan — Hundreds of U.S.-led troops have launched an offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in an area of eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden once hid, officials said Wednesday.

A bomb attack near the capital, meanwhile, killed three German police officers assigned to protect their country's embassy, and a British national was shot and killed in Kabul.

The offensive involving ground troops and airstrikes in the Tora Bora region of eastern Nangarhar province is targeting "hundreds of foreign fighters" who are dug in, said coalition spokeswoman Capt. Vanessa Bowman.

The remote mountainous area bordering Pakistan was heavily bombarded in late 2001 by U.S. troops hunting bin Laden and his associates after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"This region has provided an ideal environment to conceal enemy support bases and training sites, as well as plan and launch attacks aimed at terrorizing innocent civilians, both inside and outside the region," Bowman said in a statement by the Pentagon.

A U.S. official in Washington with knowledge of the operation said it was "intelligence-driven" and had been "piggy-backed" on top of a previously planned action against extremists.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said it was not clear exactly who was being targeted, but that those believed to be in the area included Taliban officials who could be accompanied by some mid-level members of al-Qaida's leadership, but not the top echelon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties among militants or U.S. and Afghan troops.

Sensitive to criticism over rising civilian casualties in Afghanistan, U.S officials said they had carefully chosen targets for air strikes.

The bomb that killed the three Germans wounded a fourth, officials said.

The explosion near the tow-vehicle convoy, which was traveling on an unpaved road about six miles southeast of Kabul, turned one of the two vehicles onto its side and left it badly damaged.

Afghanistan has suffered nearly three decades of civil war and conflict, and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

Also Wednesday, attackers in Kabul shot and killed a British man employed by a private security firm, according to the British Embassy and the firm.

Zemari Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said police arrested two Afghan men suspected in the slaying.

He said the suspects and victim worked for ArmorGroup, a private security company protecting Afghan and international clients, including the British Embassy in Kabul.