The soldiers would be charged with disarming some 200,000 Cambodian fighters belonging to the four factions that have been locked in a devastating civil war there for the past 21 years.

As troops pushed into the mountains, the Taliban forces launched aggressive attacks on Pakistani troops as more and more foreign fighters belonging to Al-Qaeda began to join the fight.

A majority of them were fighters belonging to Hezbollah and the allied Amal Party, residents said.

A leading Shiite fundamentalist clergymen charged today that Syrian troops had massacred fighters belonging to his group, the pro-Iranian Party of God.

There are 10,000 other fighters belonging to the non-Communist factions of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who leads the opposition coalition, and Son Sann, a former prime minister.

Residents of Zormat said today that as many as 1,000 fighters belonging to the Taliban and Al Qaeda took refuge in the town for about a month in late November and early December.

According to General Mohammed Daud a pro-Taliban leader named "Omar al-Khatab"-was leading a force of 1,000 foreign fighters belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

The area was held by Polish fighters belonging to the Armia Krajowa.

Some 5,000 fighters belonging to the Special Groups fled across the border into Iran during the offensive and after the cease-fire.