Afghan police and international peacekeepers raided a compound in Kabul early yesterday, arresting eight men with suspected links to al-Qaida and a group loyal to a banned Afghan warlord, a spokesman for the peacekeepers said.

　　Among those taken in was one man believed to be a senior member of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami group, Cdr Chris Henderson told a news conference.

　　Henderson would not reveal the names or nationalities of any of those arrested, but said authorities had seized weapons, explosives and documents that showed the suspects had links to both groups.

　　"This was a very successful operation that has successfully removed from the streets of Kabul a number of people who were deemed to pose an imminent threat to security here in Afghanistan," Henderson said. "Paper documents indicated that there was a clear indication of links to both of those organizations."

　　On April 13, six men, including one described as a senior Hekmatyar commander, were arrested by Afghan and international forces in the capital. Their identities have also not been revealed.

　　There were no injuries to authorities or any of the suspects in the operation, which began at 2 am and ended about four hours later. Henderson said the suspects were surprised in their sleep and did not fight back.

　　Hekmatyar is believed to have teamed up with Taliban holdouts and al-Qaida militants in frequent attacks on coalition targets.

　　Insurgents opened fire on a checkpoint manned by Afghan soldiers in southwestern Nimroz province on Friday, killing eight troops and injuring another.

　　Suspected Taliban fighters on Saturday fired three rockets into Sharan, the capital of southeastern Paktika province, bordering Pakistan, and on Wednesday they killed two soldiers and wounded two others in eastern Khost province.

　　Nine militants were also killed in the exchange of rocket and machine-gun fire.

　　The attack comes as the US-led military coalition is seeking to improve security, especially in the lawless south and east, ahead of landmark presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

　　The coalition has also promised an extensive sweep to capture al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

　　US military spokesman Lt Col Matthew Beevers said American forces had conducted some 400 combat patrols in the past two weeks as part of an ongoing operation, dubbed Mountain Storm, and found several weapons caches in the south and east.

　　(The Associated Press)