17:58 01-28-02

All six al Qaeda killed in Afghan hospital-official


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Jan 28 (Reuters) - All six fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden were killed in southern Kandahar on Monday when Afghan forces and U.S. advisers stormed a hospital where the rebels were holed up, an Afghan official said.

Police initially said three of the Arab al Qaeda fighters were killed, two wounded and one missing after troops stormed the building, but an official later said all six had been killed.

"Six Arabs are dead. We gave them an ultimatum. They would not talk, they would not negotiate. They were fighting to the last moment," said Khalid Pashtoon, spokesman for Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai.

"The operation is over," he said, adding five Afghan security force personnel had been wounded, one seriously.

U.S. special forces and their Afghan allies launched an assault on the hospital in the early hours of Monday.

04:49 01-28-02