BAGRAM AIR BASE - The US military yesterday rejected suggestions that the "body count" from the biggest battle of the Afghan War was inflated or that large numbers of Taleban and al Qaeda forces had escaped.
Although Operation Anaconda is now over and has been declared an "unqualified and absolute success" for killing hundreds of rebels, some Afghan commanders have suggested many of the 1000 rebels had escaped over the rugged mountains.
"Escaped? Of course, some people got out of Shahi Kot. But I take exception to any supposition that large numbers escaped," US Major-General Frank Hackenback said. "We do know that the al Qaeda and Taleban took a body blow in that area. We destroyed hundreds of al Qaeda's most experienced fighters and terrorists. We destroyed their base of terrorist operations and we eliminated their sanctuary."
Hackenback said interviews with detainees and intelligence reports backed up his body count assessment from the fighting near Gardez, about 150km south of Kabul.
Hackenback said the intense bombing shredded the bodies. As an example, he said that on March 2, the first day of the operation, 40 rebels were sighted and an airstrike was called in.
"When the troops went in on the ground afterwards they found 40 pairs of shoes," Hackenback said.
"All we saw were a couple of body parts sticking out of a 15-foot high mud heap."
- REUTERS
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