SOLDIERS clear terror caves

MORE than 500 soldiers of America's 101st Airborne Division yesterday returned from a successful five-day mission clearing 15 Afghan caves used by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters.

The elaborate cave complexes along the Pakistan border are said to have contained vital documents and photographs.

Rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and mortar rounds were found and destroyed.

The men were flown back to to Bagram Air Base, north of the capital Kabul, in a convoy of Chinooks and Apache helicoters after the mission, called Operation Mountain Lion.

They had gone through the caves inch-by-inch to remove all relevant information...then blown them up.

US military spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty said: "We wanted to deny al-Qaeda and the Taliban the chance to regroup."

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