<

Mountains New Scene for Fighting
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
By Kathy Gannon & Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press Writers

Franks described the ground operation as a series of short, often intense clashes with small numbers of fugitives fought in bitter cold at elevations of 8,000 to 12,000 feet. "We might find five enemy soldiers in one place and then perhaps some distance away from there we may find three and then some distance we may find 15 or 20."

SURMAD, Afghanistan -- AP
U.S. warplanes pounded al-Qaida and Taliban mountain strongholds Monday while coalition ground troops searched for pockets of enemy fighters in the rugged, snow-covered terrain. The heavily armed defenders responded with mortars, grenades and machine gun fire.

At least nine Americans have been killed in the offensive - code-named Operation Anaconda - including those killed Monday when two helicopters took enemy fire. The attack marked the first time U.S. conventional ground troops have been used in an offensive operation.

The code name Anaconda apparently was chosen because the giant South American snake of that name crushes its victims encircled in the muscular coils of its body. The operation was said to be designed to cut off all means of escape for al-Qaida and Taliban holed up in the region.

Wave after wave of B-52s and other aircraft unleashed bombs for a fourth day to try to soften enemy positions in the snowcapped peaks.

In Paris, the French Defense Ministry said French Mirage 2000 and Super-Etendard fighters joined in launching air strikes, attacking al-Qaida targets near Gardez, about 75 miles south of Kabul, the capital.

"In one minute, I counted 15 bombs," Rehmahe Shah, a security guard at the intelligence unit in the provincial capital Gardez, said Monday.
(More: The Laredo Morning Times Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan