US President George W. Bush said the covert war against terror was heating up, and called on the world to tighten the stranglehold on Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, which he sharply condemned for sheltering chief suspect Osama bin Laden.
Bush hinted that covert action against bin Laden was already underway and made it clear the US military had the Taliban in its sights, amid growing indications that Washington wants to see a change of regime in Kabul.
"This war will be fought wherever terrorists hide, or run, or plan," he said in a radio address Saturday.
"Some victories will be won outside of public view, in tragedies avoided and threats eliminated."
But he gave no indication as to when or how US forces would engage fire, nor did he give details of deployments that have put the US military within striking distance of Afghanistan.
A US official on Saturday denied a claim, also dismissed by the Taliban, that bin Laden followers captured US commandos on a spying mission.
The Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television said earlier three US commandos and two US citizens of Afghan origin had been caught in southwestern Afghanistan carrying maps showing terrorist camps.
Officials have refused to confirm media reports that their special forces have been inside Afghanistan paving the way for a mission against bin Laden, the chief suspect in the September 11 strikes against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left more than 6,000 people dead or missing.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate official reaction to claims by Britain's weekly The Observer that the United States and Britain planned to attack bases controlled by bin Laden, and may do so as early as Sunday.
But Bush indicated that possible military strikes were on the cards.
"The men and women of the Armed Forces are united in their dedication to freedom and they will make us proud in the struggle against terrorism," he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said that if Ottawa were asked to play a military role, "of course Canada will be happy to do our share."
Echoing earlier statements by Bush, Chretien warned the struggle would be long and often invisible.
"And it is a campaign against terrorism; it's not a war where there will be a D-Day," he said on Cable News Network's (CNN) Larry King Live
The US administration has repeatedly said the war against terrorism would be waged on several fronts.
"Our weapons are military and diplomatic, financial and legal," Bush said on Saturday.
US officials announced that 11 high-ranking members of the US Congress were due to meet former Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah on Sunday to demonstrate Washington's support for efforts to build a post-Taliban government.
The plan was unveiled after Afghan opposition leaders announced in Rome that they were forming a supreme council comprising an interim administration in Afghanistan under the auspices of the 86-year-old former monarch.
On Monday, the UN General Assembly was to discuss how to reinforce the fight against terror after the UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to punish terrorism's state sponsors.
The unprecedented resolution was passed just hours after the Taliban refused an 11th hour ultimatum to hand over bin Laden.
Russia, which has pledged to support a US counterstrike, hailed it as a vote of "exceptional significance."
Polls conducted by The Washington Post and Newsweek meanwhile showed that Americans are overwhelmingly in favour of military strikes against "terrorist" groups and nations that support them.
But thousands of anti-war activists in the United States and Europe on Saturday staged protests to urge Washington not to attack targets in Afghanistan, amid fears the already struggling Afghan population would be unjustly hurt.
The United Nations has already warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as a growing refugee crisis threatened to further destabilize the war-torn and drought-stricken region.
Some humanitarian shipments have resumed after being suspended in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, with a convoy carrying children's winter clothing, food supplements, medicine and blankets leaving northwestern Pakistan for Afghanistan.
There were concerns, too, inside Afghanistan over the fate of eight Western aid workers being held on charges of preaching Christianity. A trial hearing was set for Sunday after they met with their Pakistani defense lawyers.
Another Westerner, Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist for the Sunday Express newspaper, has also become a prisoner of the Taliban after she was arrested for illegally entering the country, the militia said Saturday -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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