U.S. presses search of cave complex

U.S. warplanes will be also equipped with a new fuel-air explosive to drop into the cave complexes, a senior Pentagon official said.

Rumsfeld declined to say how many additional soldiers might be sent to the Tora Bora area, which was largely abandoned by al-Qaida fighters early this week.

``Whatever is needed will be sent,'' he told a Pentagon press conference. ``And it won't be just U.S., it will be coalition forces.''

It is dangerous work, the secretary said, but ``a sense of urgency'' compels it, Rumsfeld said. Information gleaned from searches elsewhere inside Afghanistan has led to the arrest of ``people across the world ... and undoubtedly have prevented terrorist activities,'' Rumsfeld said.

So far, bin Laden, held responsible by the U.S. for the Sept. 11 attacks, has eluded coalition forces.

``We don't know if he is alive or dead,'' said Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who joined Rumsfeld at the press conference.

Rumsfeld declined to say whether Marines or Army soldiers would be sent on the mission to scour the caves.

British special forces are working with the U.S. military and Afghans in the region.

There are about 2,000 Marines in southern Afghanistan, mostly in and around the Kandahar airport. Others that could be tapped are hundreds of Marines on several amphibious warships in the Arabian Sea, military officials said.

Army troops from the 10th Mountain Division that are specially trained for cold-weather operations could move in swiftly from their current base in Uzbekistan.

Senior defense officials said the Afghanistan war commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, proposed sending several hundred Marines and possibly a smaller number of Army troops to the Tora Bora area.

Franks is attempting to sort out ``the balance of missions,'' said one senior military officer, who pointed out that some troops must be retained to deal with detainees while others have protective duties.

The movement of new forces might not come for several days, said another military officer. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

There are ``hundreds and hundreds'' of caves and tunnels that could hold clues about the terrorist network, Rumsfeld said.

``They're being triaged and put in priority order,'' he said. ``Then Afghan forces and coalition forces are going into those caves and looking for evidence and people and weapons and trying to determine what we can do to deal with terrorists all across the globe.''

Rumsfeld's comments were the first acknowledgment that U.S. troops had taken the hunt inside the caves long used as al-Qaida hiding places. An official said Americans ``just recently'' began moving into the hillside caves, but declined to say exactly when.

U.S. warplanes hit a convoy believed to include leadership, Rumsfeld said, without indicating whether those struck included Taliban or al-Qaida leaders. The strike included Air Force AC-130 gunships and Navy F-14 and F/A-18 jets from the USS Stennis aircraft carrier, officials said.

The convoy of 10 to 12 vehicles was moving near Khost in eastern Paktia province and was hit in the last 24 hours, Pace said.

He said they also hit a compound with command-and-control facilities from which the trucks departed.

``It was a large convoy and there were a lot of people killed and there were a lot of vehicles destroyed,'' Rumsfeld said.

But an Afghan official said the trucks were bringing tribal leaders loyal to the new government to the capital.

However, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, Maj. Brad Lowell, said U.S. officials had checked and had determined that the convoy was indeed composed of Taliban leaders.

At a separate briefing, Edward ``Pete'' Aldridge told reporters the Pentagon is sending an updated version of a fuel-air explosive for use against the caves and tunnels in Afghanistan.

The ``thermobaric'' bomb works by creating a cloud of explosive particles that detonates with a force stronger and longer than one created by conventional explosives. It was tested in Nevada last week, Air Force officials said.