U.S. Special Operations troops have attacked a compound in Southern Afghanistan, killing five suspected al-Qaida fighters and capturing 32 others. 

A Pentagon spokesman said Monday that troops engaged in a gunbattle with the suspected al-Qaida terrorists at a holdout about 80 kilometers north of Kandahar Sunday. He said no American troops were killed or injured in the raid. 

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said American forces seized a number of weapons at the compound. 

Also Monday, two rockets were fired near a U.S. military camp near the eastern city of Khost. The Afghan news service say no one was hurt in the attack. 

Meanwhile, a British-led search-and-destroy mission concluded a three week operation in eastern Afghanistan aimed at destroying al-Qaida's ability to launch future terrorist attacks. 

British Brigadier Roger Lane told reporters today that "Operation Snipe" succeeded in destroying a vast arsenal of weaponry and unearthing caves and bunkers used by the Taleban and Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network. 

Brigadier Lane says the mission dealt a significant blow to the al-Qaida infrastructure, even though no al-Qaida or Taleban fighters were encountered during the mission. 

Earlier, The Washington Post newspaper reported that American analysts have concluded that the largest remaining concentrations of al-Qaida forces have found refuge in western Pakistan. The report says the Pakistani government has refused to launch an attack on the terrorists. 

Pakistani officials dismissed the report, saying the government has been fully cooperative with the ongoing hunt for al-Qaida and Taleban fighters. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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