Troops to starve out seven al-Qaida hiding at hospital

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Anti-Taliban troops said Sunday they plan to starve out seven armed al-Qaida members who have been holed up in an Afghan hospital for a month.

Troops have cornered the al-Qaida members in the Mir Wais hospital in Kandahar. They expect the standoff to end within a week.

"The United States wants us to take them alive. It would be easy to finish it now, but they would all die," said Fazil Bali, a commander with the Kandahar security force. He said the men's food was running low, and one doctor said it might already be finished.

The al-Qaida members have said they will blow themselves up if anyone tries to take them from the hospital, where they were dropped off by comrades as Kandahar fell to anti-Taliban forces.