Special Forces Take Over Hunt for Al-qaeda

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered the head of US Special Forces to take over the hunt for senior al-Qaeda leaders following frustration in the Bush administration that the war on terror has run out of steam.

Sources say that Rumsfeld has issued a classified memo to General Charles Holland, head of US Special Operations command, ordering his troops to 'capture or kill' the top figures in al-Qaeda.

The move comes amid growing concern among senior figures around President Bush over the way in which the Pentagon's Central Command, led by General Tommy Franks, has been prosecuting the war on terrorism, not least the failure to seize key members of the al-Qaeda leadership who have fled and gone to ground.

Disclosure of the confidential memo came as Rumsfeld met Holland on Friday to discuss strategies to 're-energise' the war, now in its tenth month.

At the meeting, Holland is understood to have made the case for deploying Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets and the US Army's secretive Delta Force, to fight alongside the armed forces of countries where the al-Qaeda leadership is suspected to have taken refuge.

The Rumsfeld memo includes not only Osama bin Laden but another half dozen or so key figures who are believed to pose the greatest threat of co-ordinating and ordering new terrorist attacks on the United States.

It will give Special Operations forces the ability to take advantage of the law that allows them to engage in counter-terrorism or 'direct action' missions to kill enemy forces.

During the meeting Holland is understood to have sought approval for a dramatic expansion of the US Navy's stop and search efforts against suspect shipping as well approval for Special Operations troops to accompany foreign forces on combat missions.

Administration sources - quoted in the Washington Post - added, however, that the thrust of the new efforts would be in missions that were 'aggressive, unilateral and behind the scenes' which would include assassination strikes.

Rumsfeld is reported to be impatient with the pace of planning for operations against al-Qaeda, saying it had become rigid and stale.