All six al-Qaeda fighters who had been in a Kandahar hospital for more than seven weeks were killed today when Afghan forces stormed the building.
"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 Mr Khalid Pashtoon, spokesman for Kandahar governor Mr Gul Agha Sherzai.
US special forces and their Afghan allies began the attack on the hospital early this morning.
Maj Chris Miller of the 5th US special forces group said Afghan troops took the lead in storming the hospital. "Strictly advise and assist was our role. They did an incredible job. It was entirely an Afghan operation," he said.
He said US special forces began training the Afghan troops a week ago for what he described as an extremely difficult and complicated operation.
Afghan soldiers could be seen on ledges of the hospital and explosions and flashes were seen at the windows of the ward where the fighters had barricaded themselves in, witnesses said.
Bursts of automatic gunfire erupted seconds later and US officers could be heard shouting orders, the witnesses said.
The al-Qaeda fighters, who had threatened to blow themselves up if anyone but a doctor entered their ward, were among a 19-strong group brought to the hospital just before the city fell to opposition forces on December 7th.