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Al-Qaeda fighters shot down US helicopter in Afghanistan
ZURMAT, Afghanistan (AFP) A US helicopter was shot down and another hit
during a massive assault by coalition and Afghan forces against
suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in eastern Afghanistan.
A "small number" of US troops were killed and others injured when the
special forces MH-47 helicopter was shot down, Pentagon spokeswoman
Victoria Clarke said of the first US aircraft downed by enemy fire
since the war started in October.
"We can confirm that sometime early evening our time last night an MH-
47 was fired upon and went down. We have some small numbers of US
troops killed," Clarke said Monday in Washington.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said six US
troops were killed and more than five injured.
A second US MH-47 helicopter was hit by enemy fire but managed to take
off and flee, leaving behind a US soldier who was later found dead, the
official said.
The latest deaths raise the confirmed toll to at least eight US and
three Afghan troops killed in the operation.
US warplanes continued to pound the suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in the
Arma mountains of Paktia province as US and Afghan troops backed by
forces from six coalition allies prepared to resume their massive
offensive against the extremists.
The US military said Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and
Norway had contributed forces to the biggest offensive so far this year
against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters regrouping in the snow-capped
Amra mountains honeycombed by caves.
US and Afghan officials spoke of fierce and intense fighting against a
stubborn enemy who had apparently resisted the might of the allied
force backed by air power.
The bombers pounded a two-kilometer (one-mile) stretch of the
mountains, dislodging snow from their caps, as a surveillance drone
flew overhead.
"Yesterday and today have been the heaviest bombing so far," said Jamil
(eds: one name), the deputy local commander in Zurmat, a village three
kilometers (about two miles) from the fighting.
US warplanes have mounted a full assault on the frigid mountains since
early Saturday in a bid to oust hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taliban
fighters, possibly including top leaders, holed up inside.
Under the guidance of US advisers, some 1,000 Afghan troops have been
trying to mount a ground offensive, but soldiers said progress has been
halted by stiff al-Qaeda resistance.
"The al-Qaeda are not in a position to launch a counterattack, but as
soon as the Afghan-Americans come close they are opening fire from the
caves. As the security belt gets tighter, so the resistance gets
stronger," said Paktia province's Governor Taj Mohammad Wardak.
"The fighting is non-stop between the Afghan-Americans and the al-
Qaeda," he told AFP in the provincial capital Gardez, 30 kilometers (18
miles) north of here.
Wardak, who said he was in contact with US commanders, said he was not
sure how many people have been killed and wounded in the operation, the
largest in Afghanistan this year.
But he added: "I can tell you that if there are any casualties on the
Afghan-American side, it will be 10 times as bad on the al-Qaeda side."
A spokesman for the US Central Command said Sunday that hundreds of al-
Qaeda and Taliban holdouts were believed to be hiding in the mountains.
Local officials, however, have put the figure at around 2,300.
The governor said bombing and fighting was centered around Shahi Kot,
on the corner of Paktia and and Paktika provinces. He expected the
operation would last a few more days.
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