Marines go after Omar

Associated Press And The Los Angeles Times

Combat-ready U.S. Marines launched a mission Monday to capture Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, thought to be hiding in the remote mountains of central Afghanistan, Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said.

"If he’s there, he’ll be arrested," Karzai said in Kabul. "We are determined to see him arrested."

Pentagon officials confirmed a mission was under way but refused to comment further, saying to do so could endanger those involved.

Dozens of Marines boarded CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters at their base in Kandahar, Omar’s hometown and the Taliban’s final stronghold in southern Afghanistan. The helicopters, which can hold up to 25 soldiers each, took off toward the northwest just before sunset.

A B-52 bomber and fighter jet also could be seen headed in the same direction.

Afghan and American officials think Omar may be in the Baghran area, a remote, mountainous region about 100 miles northwest of Kandahar.

Marines leaving for the mission carried full combat gear, including large backpacks, helmets, goggles and M-16 rifles. Their weapons also included 5.56mm light machine guns, grenades and 72mm anti-tank weapons.

Also Monday, U.S. military officials disputed reports from the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that at least 92 people had been killed by U.S. bombing.

The American strike early Saturday about five to 10 miles northwest of the city of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, destroyed a Taliban compound, but not before two surface-to-air missiles were fired from the site at U.S. warplanes, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Klee, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

"This was not a village. It was a known Taliban and al-Qaida leadership compound," Klee said of the strike, in which one B-52 and two B1-B bombers dropped precision-guided munitions on the target.

"We looked at this location for an extended period of time. It wasn’t like it was something that just popped up on the horizon that we shot at."