GARDEZ - Regrouping Taleban and al Qaeda fighters killed a United States soldier and wounded others yesterday in repelling an offensive that involved more Western coalition ground troops than any operation of the Afghan war.
The fatality, the second US serviceman killed by enemy fire in the war, came as up to 5000 die-hard al Qaeda and Taleban fighters fired rockets and artillery to beat back outnumbered Afghan troops, who were aided by US bombing and Western troops.
At least two Afghan soldiers were also killed in the offensive on snowy mountains in eastern Afghanistan that started on Saturday and continued - after the retreat - with bombing that included rarely used "thermobaric" munitions.
Warplanes dropped two of the recently developed, extremely accurate, 907kg bombs, which use an explosive mixture to create a high-pressure blast that drives the air out of a cave and potentially suffocates those inside, US officials said.
One official said Afghan forces led the attack south of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province, but that more American and coalition ground troops were deployed than in any offensive of the five-month war.
"It's a major operation, the biggest involving coalition troops of the war," said the official, who declined to provide numbers.
Other countries, including Britain, France, Australia and Canada, have coalition forces involved in fighting the al Qaeda and Taleban in Afghanistan.
Afghan soldiers returning from the front said they launched the attack with a force of about 1000, accompanied by about 60 US advisers.
Al Qaeda and Taleban forces were routed in December in sweeping victories by US-backed Afghan forces and this year there have been few major clashes and little US bombing.
But senior Pentagon officials said the US for some time had been collecting intelligence on regrouping al Qaeda and Taleban in eastern Afghanistan in rugged mountains honeycombed with caves.
The whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar remain a mystery but they are not believed to be in the area of the offensive.
Pakistan, which backs the US war in Afghanistan, sealed its border to stop fighters escaping from the offensive.
The Afghan soldiers said they feared some of their units might have been cut off or surrounded in the battle near the Pakistan border.
"Some people think there are 3000 fighters against us. Some think 5000," said one Afghan soldier involved in the fighting.
A Reuters television cameraman saw flashes and loud explosions from B-52 bombing strikes. At least two US Chinook military helicopters headed out of the battle area in the mountain village of Shahi Ko in Arma district.
"There were 200 of us and five carloads of Americans with us. There were no civilian casualties, at least not in this area.
"Right now the whole campaign has retreated. We failed and our campaign did not succeed," said Rahmatullah, who was at the front.
Rahmatullah said the Afghan forces were falling back to Gardez in the face of stubborn resistance.
Rahmatullah and other soldiers said their opponents were in bunkers built during the Afghan mujahideen fight against occupying forces from the former Soviet Union in the 1980s.
They said for weeks the cornered fighters had gone to local markets and bought up to 1000 sacks of food supplies.
Gardez is about 150km south of Kabul towards the Pakistan border, often mentioned as a likely hide-out for the two leaders.
Paktia Governor Taj Mohammad Wardak said he did not believe bin Laden and Omar were in the area.
- REUTERS
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