KABUL, 17 August 2006 — US and Afghan forces raided compounds suspected of being Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in southeastern Afghanistan yesterday, seizing weapons and explosives and arresting eight people, the US military said.

Meanwhile, insurgents hit a Canadian base in southern Afghanistan with mortars, wounding six soldiers, a Canadian military spokesman said.

Insurgents also killed one policeman, and wounded another after attacking a checkpoint in central Afghanistan, an official said.

The compounds targeted in the predawn raids near the villages of Paru Kheyl and Jabeh in the Yaqubi district in Khost province were believed to be sanctuaries for “Al-Qaeda facilitators,” according to a military statement.

“Credible intelligence linked the targeted terrorists to assisting foreign fighters and plotting improvised explosive device attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Khost province,” the statement said.

An assortment of weapons, explosives and telecommunications equipment were found during the searches, it added.

Those captured were being questioned to determine their identities and “their level of involvement in known terrorist activities,” the statement said.

The attack on the Canadians occurred in Zhari district in southern Kandahar province on Tuesday, but none of the soldiers’ injuries were life-threatening, said Capt. Edward Stewart, a Canadian military spokesman. Seven Canadian troops have been killed in the area since NATO-led troops took control of security from the US-led coalition on Aug. 1 in Afghanistan’s insurgency-wracked southern provinces.

Meanwhile, the US military said yesterday it would pay $90,000 in compensation to the victims of a May air attack which killed at least 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan.

But the compensation process would not start until security improves in Kandahar province’s Panjwayi district where the incident happened, US military spokesman Col. Tom Collins said.

He said the Afghan government and the US military put the death toll from the airstrike at 16. But a respected rights group and local residents say 37 people were killed.