'Intense' fighting in
eastern Afghanistan

Several anti-Taleban fighters have been injured
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.
Quelle: BBC World

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