US forces in Afghanistan say they have killed three militants and detained 13 in a raid on a cave in the southern province of Zabul. An American military spokesman said that dozens of US troops, including special forces, took part in the raid in Qalat on Saturday night. The spokesman said the operation was part of the latest offensive, codenamed Mountain Storm, against the Taleban. He said the deaths took place after an exchange of machine gun and rifle fire. \"We surprised them and we went there and we landed there,\" said US spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty. \"The people we killed, we engaged them with direct fire with rifles and machine guns.\" Three militants were killed in the resulting fire fight and five detained, he said, with eight more suspects detained later. Lieutenant-Colonel Hilferty did not identify the suspects detained, but there are reports that three Taleban commanders were among those arrested on Sunday. The operation is the latest in a series of military actions in Afghanistan. Lieutenant-Colonel Hilferty said it involved patrols, searches and small scale assaults across the country\'s south and east. In January, the coalition\'s commander argued that Osama Bin Laden would be caught within a year. The US says Operation Mountain Storm is designed to keep pressure on what it calls the terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan. Pakistani forces have been pursuing members of al-Qaeda and the Taleban in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan for several weeks. The US-led coalition is working in co-operation with the Pakistanis in what it says is a hammer and anvil strategy - to capture any militants that flee across the border. (BBC)