Saturday September 29, 08:13 AM

Qatar TV says Afghans seize 5 U.S. Special Forces

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar's al-Jazeera television says Afghan security forces have seized five members of the U.S. Special Forces near the border with Iran on a reconnaissance mission against Osama bin Laden's group.

It said on Saturday a military source from bin Laden's al Qaeda group telephoned its correspondent in Islamabad and said that the five -- three Americans and two Afghans with U.S. citizenship -- were from the U.S. Special Forces and had modern weapons and some maps of al Qaeda sites.

The United States has named Afghan-based militant bin Laden and his al Qaeda followers as the prime suspects in the deadly September 11 suicide airliner attacks on New York and Washington.

"The five were arrested, three Americans and two Afghans, who were trained in the U.S. Special Forces and have U.S. citizenship. The three Americans are also from the U.S. Special Forces," the correspondent quoted the source as saying.

"They had some modern weapons and some maps of al Qaeda sites," the source was reported as saying. "They were on a reconnaissance mission to know the territory of al Qaeda."

He said pictures of the men would be released soon.

U.S. media said on Friday small groups of U.S. Special Forces had been operating in the rugged Muslim state in recent days, but Pentagon and other U.S. officials declined to comment.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010929/80/c5pje.html

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), September 29, 2001

Answers

Taliban says no foreign special forces in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement has denied that any U.S. or British special forces have entered territory under its control.

Qatar's al-Jazeera television reported earlier on Saturday that Afghan security forces had arrested three Americans from U.S. special forces and two Afghan guides who were apparently scouting around in western Afghanistan near the Iran border.

"It is totally wrong, we deny this news that they have come to our areas," Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the Taliban defence minister, told Reuters in Kabul.

Mullah Obaidullah did not rule out the possibility that some foreign forces could be in regions held by anti-Taliban forces north of Kabul and in the rugged areas of the northeast near the border with Tajikistan.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010929/80/c5pll.html

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), September 29, 2001.