Allied troops pursue al-Qaida

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- U.S. and Canadian troops found a cache of mortars, grenades and rockets Friday as they scoured the mountains of eastern Afghanistan for escaping al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who fled the U.S.-led offensive in the Shah-e-Kot valley.

Explosions were heard echoing off the snow-covered peaks as the captured weapons were blown up, said the Canadian Press news agency, which has a reporter with the Canadian force.

The bodies of two al-Qaida fighters also were found Friday within the cave complex that al-Qaida and Taliban fighters held before they were routed during the 12-day attack, the news agency said.

Earlier in the day, U.S. and Canadian soldiers pursued four al-Qaida fighters who eluded capture after a gunbattle. They got away.

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the fighting is "winding down," but skirmishes continue in the Shah-e-Kot mountains as United States and its allies pursue al-Qaida and Taliban forces.

He said a key objective of the U.S.-led campaign is to keep al-Qaida and Taliban fighters from regrouping, either in Afghanistan or in neighboring countries.

"We need to make sure that the well-trained terrorists who left Afghanistan do not set up sanctuaries in other nations," Rumsfeld said. "There are still pockets of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters at a number of locations in Afghanistan, and certainly there are others just across the various borders of that country that would like to come back." A U.S. official said that numerous al-Qaida fighters fleeing battles near Shah-e-Kot are believed to have escaped into Pakistan.

It is unclear how many of the terrorist group's fighters fleeing the U.S.-led crackdown named Operation Anaconda evaded Pakistani troops to cross the border, said the official said.

In other developments:

Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai urged Afghan exiles to return and help rebuild the country. Karzai made the appeal in Berlin, Germany, after the government there announced a $19.4 million loan to Afghanistan for projects.

The World Heath Organization said scurvy resulting from poor nutrition was the primary cause of the outbreak of a deadly disease that has killed 40 people in western Afghanistan.