gelatik
03.03.02, 23:23
US forces and their Afghan allies have been engaged for a second day in heavy
fighting against Taleban and al-Qaeda forces in eastern Afghanistan.
The operations continue and we're still seeing some pretty intense firefights,"
said US military spokesman Colonel Rick Thomas.
The governnor of Paktia said the operation was going well and was expected to
take about a week.
He added that there had been many casualties among the Taleban fighters; one US
soldier and three Afghans fighting with them are known to have been killed so
far
The second day of the operation against the Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold
began with US bombers pounding their positions.
B-52 planes were seen overhead and several strong explosions could be heard in
the Shah-e-Kot mountain range, 30km (20 miles) south of Gardez in Paktia
province.
Eighty bombs have been dropped on the area in the past two days, including two
newly-developed high-pressure fuel-air bombs which send suffocating blasts into
underground positions.
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Bombing was also reported on the Kharwar mountain range in the neighbouring
Logar province, where pro-US Afghan forces were said to be battling Taleban and
al-Qaeda fighters.
Propaganda offensive
US aircraft have also dropped thousands of leaflets over Paktia province,
urging local people to denounce any al-Qaeda suspects.
"Hand over Taliban and al-Qaeda or you will be destroyed. Come forward with
information about Taliban and al-Qaeda," read the leaflets printed in Dari and
Pashto, the two main languages of Afghanistan.
A picture on the leaflet showed a truck packed with heavily-armed Taleban
fighters.
But so far the military offensive has run into strong resistance.
Afghan officials said their troops had come up against artillery, mortar and
heavy machine gun fire during Saturday's operation, and had made little headway
against the al-Qaeda fighters.
An Afghan doctor in Gardez said six Americans were among those wounded during
the operation, in addition to the one fatality.
An Afghan soldier injured in the assault told the Associated Press news agency
that the American who died was killed when a mortar shell hit the vehicle he
was riding in.
About 30 US soldiers - special forces and troops from the army's 101st Airborne
assault troops - are leading 1,500 Afghan fighters in the operation.
US Central Command said the size of the enemy force was unknown, but Afghan
fighters said it numbered between 3,000 and 5,000.
They told Reuters that the militants had been buying hundreds of sacks of food
in local markets every week.
New weapons
The US said two "thermobaric" bombs had been dropped on the mountain
stronghold.
The 2,000-pound (907-kg) laser-guided weapons are filled with a special
explosive mixture that creates a high-pressure blast, driving all of the air
out of a cave and potentially choking those inside.
They were tested by the US in December and officials said in January that they
would be rushed to Afghanistan for the campaign to root out supporters of Saudi-
born dissident Osama Bin Laden.
Russia has prompted international protests by using similar fuel-air bombs in
the republic of Chechnya.
The mountains around Gardez have been a hiding place for Afghan warriors since
anti-Soviet guerrillas used them as a base for their fight against Soviet
troops in the 1980s.
