BAGRAM, Afghanistan — American special forces captured three suspected al-Qaida fighters in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend, a U.S. military spokesman said Monday.
The suspects were taken near the town of Khost on Saturday night, said Col. Roger King at Bagram, the U.S. military headquarters.
Authorities in eastern Afghanistan also arrested one Yemeni man who admitted being an al-Qaida member and found three Russian anti-tank missiles hidden in Jalalabad, a senior police officer said Monday.
Haji Ajab Shah, police inspector general for Nangarhar province, said the Yemeni man, whom he declined to identify, was found in the Karghi district of Lagman province in recent days after residents alerted authorities.
A Jalalabad jail official said the suspect was turned over to the central government after revealing during interrogation that he was an al-Qaida member.
The Khost area, about 90 miles southeast of Kabul in Paktia province, is regarded as one of the most insecure parts of the country and forces of the U.S.-led coalition have repeatedly conducted operations there to flush out holdouts of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
King said the three were brought to Bagram for questioning. He had no details on why the men were believed to be members of al-Qaida.
The soldiers also found explosive and ammunition caches that included 200 feet of detonation cord, 10 high explosive charges, 100 firing devices, five hand grenades and mortar rounds.
Other American troops found 50 rocket-propelled grenades during a search operations near Malaksay, in southeastern Paktika province.
"There were no reports of fighting, casualties or anyone taken under control," King said of the operation, conducted by special operations forces and troops from the 82nd Airborne Division.
He said such localized operations can be "relatively effective" in finding Taliban and al-Qaida forces, weapons or "items of intelligence value."