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US-Led Coalition Takes On Pockets Of Al-Qaida Fighters
Friday, March 8, 2002
The Associated Press

"People here are very sad that they [ethnic Tajiks under the command of Gul Haider] have come," said storekeeper Rehmat Shah as he watched the Tajik column roll into Gardez. "It will just encourage people to go to al-Qaida. We could have done this ourselves."

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- AP
Afghan troops and tanks rushed to the battle zone Friday to bolster U.S.-led coalition forces against determined pockets of al-Qaida militants fulfilling their vow to fight to the death.

The coalition's confirmed death toll remained at eight U.S. servicemen and three Afghans.

U.S. officers say 500 to 600 al-Qaida and holdouts have been killed since Operation Anaconda began last week. The death toll is far higher than U.S. estimates of the size of the entire enemy force when the operation began.

Fighting was intense Friday in the southern sector of the operation, said Col. Joe Smith, chief of staff of the 10th Mountain Division, at Bagram air base.

He said al-Qaida forces had suffered "lots" of casualties in the past 24 hours, but gave no figure.

Heavy snow blanketed the region's mountain passes, but ground and air operations pressed on, and the rumble of heavy explosions from the battle area could be heard more than 45 kilometers (20 miles) to the north.
(More: The Business Times Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan