At least 8 U.S. soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan

By Pauline Jelinek

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – As many as nine American soldiers have died in a U.S.-led assault in Afghanistan – eight killed when troops on two helicopters took enemy fire in the largest offensive of the five-month war against terrorists, Pentagon officials said today.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said enemy forces had sustained “much larger numbers of killed and wounded, and there will be many more.” He said the assault would continue. Another Pentagon official estimated at least 100 al-Qaida or Taliban fighters had died, possibly many more.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said al-Qaida fighters were in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, well dug-in, well-fortified and with “lots of weapons.”

“We knew that al-Qaida would have two choices, to run or stay and fight,” Myers said. “It seems they have chosen to stay and fight to the last, and we hope to accommodate them.”

Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, said eight or nine Americans were killed in the engagements – the exact number was not yet clear. “The fog of war will persist until we are able to have discussions with people who have been involved in this fight,” he said.

He said the allied force of about 2,000 soldiers – close to half of them Afghans, the rest U.S. and coalition soldiers – was “making good progress as we speak.”

But he also said the war had entered a phase of even greater danger, with large numbers of U.S. troops engaged in ground operations that were often left before to Afghan allies.

“Any time one has a higher concentration of force on the ground, one can anticipate higher casualties,” he said.

Officials said one American was killed when a helicopter, low to the ground, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, made a hard landing and then managed to take off again. The grenade apparently bounced off the helicopter and did not explode. The soldier who died may have been knocked out of the helicopter by the force.

Franks said a Chinook helicopter arrived in the area and came under fire but managed to land and discharge troops. They were immediately fired on by the enemy, he said, and some Americans were killed.

Pentagon officials initially said the second helicopter crashed from being fired upon; Franks said it actually may have been a crash landing.

Franks said the U.S. side had taken some prisoners but he did not know whether they were combatants or civilians.

The deadly battle prompted the Pentagon to do what it has avoided in the past – estimating the number of enemy dead. Franks said 100 to 200 were believed killed but it could be much higher.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush considered the continuing operation “highly successful in military terms.”

Bush “mourns the loss of any American life,” Fleischer said. “The president has said to our country that we need to be prepared for casualties.”

At least 40 American troops were wounded in the exchanges, which occurred in an operation started Friday against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban believed regrouping near Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld said the casualties, including wounded, had been evacuated from the region. He said half of the wounded were already back in the fight.

The Chinook helicopter, normally used to ferry special forces troops and supplies, was attacked on its way to the battle near Gardez.

A U.S. soldier was killed Saturday. The seven or eight killed in the helicopter attacks represented the largest death toll from one engagement. There have been accidental crashes of other craft since the anti-terror campaign opened Oct. 7, including one in which seven Marines were killed when a tanker plane crashed in Pakistan.

The battle involved the largest coalition force assembled so far in the campaign – combining troops from America, Afghanistan and at least six other nations. They engaged hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban in intense fire fights backed by airstrikes.

Rumsfeld said because of the efforts of al-Qaida fighters and their leaders to regroup inside Afghanistan, “this will not be the last such operation in Afghanistan.”

Asked whether the United States would send in additional military reinforcements to aid the assault, Rumsfeld said: “Whatever it takes.” He would not provide details.

Since the assault began Friday, the United States has dropped more than 350 bombs, Myers said.

The U.S. ground troops and pilots are operating in a mountainous area at elevations between 8,000 and 11,000 feet, Rumsfeld said. Myers said it was cold, icy and snowy “like the Rocky Mountains in the middle of the winter.”

“The higher you go, it gets thinner for flight operations,” Myers said. Some helicopters are operating at the edge of their capabilities, he said.

The al-Qaida and Taliban fighters near Gardez are equipped with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and probably some shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles like the Russian SA-7 and American Stinger, said another defense official, also on condition of anonymity.

Some of the fighters have experience using missiles to shoot down helicopters from the mujahedeen days of fighting the Soviet occupation force in the 1980s, the official said. Many used U.S.-supplied Stinger missiles, some of which remain in Afghanistan.