AFGHANISTAN (nbc) — The United States has identified more than 40 sites inside Afghanistan where loyalists to Osama bin Laden may have been conducting research on chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the U.S. general commanding the Afghan campaign said Tuesday. Samples are being tested as U.S. troops, joined by a growing number of Marines, prepare to step up their search for bin Laden as well as leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaida network.
Army Gen. Tommy Franks told a news conference that more than 40 sites are now under control of anti-Taliban forces and are being systematically checked by U.S. authorities for evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
“We have acquired a great deal of samples and we need to be thorough in their analyses,” Franks said. “We’ll perform the tests that need to be performed at every possible facility.” He gave no indication that the tests performed so far have produced any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons research.
Bush administration officials have said they take seriously claims by bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network that they have pursued the development of weapons of mass destruction. Franks appeared at a news conference in Tampa, Fla., with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who flew to the city to visit U.S. Central Command headquarters on nearby McDill Air Force Base.
Asked about Northern Alliance claims that it had regained control of a prison housing bin Laden fighters, Franks said special forces on the ground had told him the area “is not yet fully under control” and that 30 to 40 “hard-core people” were holed up inside.
A CIA operative was feared killed in the uprising near Mazar-e-Sharif. “The U.S. government is trying to ascertain his whereabouts,” Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Tuesday. Camouflage-clad U.S. special forces, as well as soldiers who appeared to be British, moved in and out of the fort Tuesday, some carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, others toting guns fitted with laserscopes.
An adviser to Rashid Dostum, the Northern Alliance commander responsible for the Qalai Janghi fortress, said “the situation is completely under control. All of them were killed.” Alim Razim estimated that 450 prisoners — Pakistanis, Chechens, Arabs and other non-Afghans fighting with the Taliban — were involved in the uprising.
The fighters were brought to the fortress as part of the surrender of Kunduz, the Islamic militia’s last stronghold in the north. Northern Alliance officials had said Sunday that the fortress was under control, only to see heavy fighting over the next two days.
U.S. airplanes circled overhead Tuesday as the remaining prisoners rained rocket-propelled grenades and mortars on alliance troops trying to suppress the uprising. Witnesses reported heavy U.S. airstrikes on the fortress overnight.
Five U.S. soldiers were wounded Monday when a U.S. bomb called in by special forces went astray, exploding near the Americans. The injuries were “serious” but not life-threatening, officials told NBC News, and the five were flown to Uzbekistan, then on to Germany. Their identities were not released.
