Coalition troops capture key valley

Advancing coalition forces today claimed control of the Shah-e-Kot valley in eastern Afghanistan, sweeping all but a few small groups of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters as allied troops worked their way through the warren of mountain caves.

The announcement by US forces came after high-flying US B-1 bombers pounded al-Qaida and Taliban positions on a ridgeline that US officers dubbed ‘‘the whale’’. The dull thud of distant detonations could be heard this morning in Gardez, about 20 miles northeast of the front line.