Afghanistan (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan militiamen had launched a fresh operation to root out al Qaeda fighters in southeastern Afghanistan. "As reported by Afghan officials yesterday, I can confirm that coalition forces are conducting military operations in the Zormat region of southeastern Afghanistan," Roger King, a spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, told reporters. King said the aim of the operations was to "find, capture or kill any remaining al Qaeda fighters and their supporters in the area and to deny the enemy sanctuary in that area." King said coalition forces had so far detained three people, who he did not identify, and discovered several small weapons caches. He said the allied forces consisted of coalition conventional troops, special operations and Afghan militia forces, but gave no other details. Thousands of U.S. and coalition troops are in Afghanistan hunting the remnants of the former ruling Taliban and the al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Afghanistan's defense minister said on Wednesday the operation had been launched against suspected bases of the Taliban and al Qaeda around the southeastern city of Khost. The minister, Mohammad Fahim, also said he believed former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was still alive and that Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, was "probably" alive too. U.S. and Afghan forces have worked together in the past to pursue remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda network, but the presence of U.S. troops acting alone in Afghanistan has caused confusion and resentment. Fahim, who gave no further details about the operation, rejected criticism from abroad that the government of President Hamid Karzai only had real control in the capital of Kabul. However, he said al Qaeda had regrouped in areas along Afghanistan's southern border with Pakistan. Asked why neither Mullah Omar or bin Laden had been caught nearly 11 months after the launch of U.S. operations in Afghanistan, Fahim said they most likely lived like nomads or in secret "like thieves" in tribal regions of Pakistan "and sometimes probably in border areas of Afghanistan."