US forces said yesterday they have discovered an "insurgent lair" in Iraq's restive al-Anbar province, including a bunker system the size of four football fields and dozens of weapons caches.
Meanwhile, a Muslim cleric said he had met an ailing Australian contractor who has been held hostage for weeks in Iraq by militants.
The US military announced the discovery of the bunkers dug into an abandoned quarry near Karmah, west of the capital, along with 50 weapons caches unearthed in the last 72 hours.
The whole complex was 170m wide and 275m long or bigger than four football fields, it said, and fresh food inside showed the hideout had been recently inhabited.
Fully furnished living spaces were found in the warren, along with a kitchen, showers and an air conditioner, hi-tech combat equipment such as night vision goggles and a large haul of weapons and ammunition.
"Coalition forces and ISF [Iraqi security forces] found numerous types of machine guns, ordnance, including mortars, rockets and artillery rounds, black uniforms, ski masks, compasses, log books, night vision goggles, and fully charged cell phones," it said.
Marines were sifting through the site in search of intelligence after which the arms and ammunition were to be destroyed.
In Australia, a spokesman for the country's top Muslim cleric said Sheikh Taj Eldin Al Hilali had met contractor Douglas Wood, who was kidnapped in late April, and that he had received medication for a serious heart condition.
"He said to me: `I've seen him eye to eye,' those were the words he used, eye to eye, it was Douglas," Sydney-based Ikebal Patel of the Federation of Islamic Councils told Australian television.
"What we do know is he is alive, the mufti's words is: `he is okay under the circumstances, he is well,' and the aim is to now to try and get him out of there ASAP [as soon as possible], to try get him the urgent medical attention that is required," Patel said. "Medication has been given to him so that is very welcome news."
Wood, a US-based contractor, was seized by a rebel group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq.
The group initially demanded Australia -- a close US ally -- pull its troops out of Iraq in exchange for Wood's life, but the demand was rejected and has reportedly been dropped by the militants.
Hilali travelled to the region last month to help gain Wood's release and during negotiations has offered himself as a hostage in place of the captured contractor.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said a crisis team was also working to secure Wood's release.
"My only comment about it would be that we remain very determined in our drive to get him released and we are still working very hard at it," he told Australian television.
"This is an extremely sensitive issue so we need to be a little careful how we express ourselves."
He said Hilali was "making a good contribution" in efforts to release Wood but refused to comment directly on the mufti's claim to have seen the contractor.
As Iraqi forces pressed on with their week-old Operation Lightning sweep of the capital, an interior ministry source said the 40,000-man operation did not involve any extra troops, just that they were being deployed in a more "targeted" way.
"The operation will continue until we achieve our objectives," he said.
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