March 7, 2002

Euro rises as dollar slips on unease over Afghan conflict

Thursday March 7, 2:46 AM(AFP)

The euro gained as the dollar eased on concern about developments in the conflict in Afghanistan and a US decision to to slap tariffs on steel imports.

The single European currency was quoted at 0.8770 dollars from 0.8718 in New York overnight, while the dollar changed hands at 130.89 yen from 132.14 yen
earlier in Tokyo trading.

The euro has slouched around between 0.85 and 0.88 dollars ever since a new year rally fizzled out in early January. The currency has still looked second best to the
dollar on foreign exchange markets, because the US economy looks likely to recover sooner and more strongly than the euro-zone, analysts say.

However, reports on Wednesday that five German and Danish soldiers have died in an accident in Kabul prompted dollar selling, boosting most major currencies.

"The market is still sensitive to developments in Afghanistan," said Paul Mackel, currency strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

"Every time something pops up (it) reminds everyone of how serious the situation really is."

Major currencies had made healthy gains against the dollar earlier in the session on growing unease about the US government's decision to impose steel tariffs on
imports.

Bear Stearns currency strategist Steve Barrow said: "In general this gave the dollar a negative tone."

Earlier, data from Germany showed the unemployment had levelled off in February at 9.6 percent, although but analysts said it would take a lot more than mediocre
German jobless data to shake the euro into a new range.

"We really need something new out of Europe in order to move the currency out of the range," said Julian Jessop, a currency expert at Standard Chartered bank.

He said that unless the European Central Bank (ECB) sprang a surprise at an interest rate meeting on Thursday, the euro would move sideways for another month
until the next ECB meeting. The euro-zone leading refinancing rate is currently pegged at 3.25 percent.

"We have seen signs of recovery in Europe but the signs of recovery are more evident in the US and it hasn't helped the euro," said Jessop.

As for the dollar, it appears to have run out of steam, with the next important piece of economic data not due until Friday's labour market statistics.

The yen meanwhile continued to derive support from the new found robustness of the Japanese stock market, though analysts were questioning whether the
momentum would be sustained given the bleak overall outlook for the Japanese economy.

The euro was being traded at 0.8770 dollars from 0.8718 in New York late on Tuesday, at 114.71 yen (115.27), 0.6158 pounds (0.6122) and 1.4751 Swiss
francs (1.4769).

The dollar was at 130.89 yen (132.23) and 1.6825 Swiss francs (1.6940).

Sterling bought 1.4231 dollars from 1.4242 in New York, 186.26 yen (188.32) and 2.3942 Swiss francs (2.4126).

The price of gold dropped to 292.70 dollars an ounce from 297.80 dollars on Tuesday

---

Karzai says Arma mountains last "terrorist base" in country

Thursday March 7, 1:32 AM(AFP)

Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai said the al-Qaeda hideout in eastern Afghanistan being bombarded by US warplanes was the "last terrorist base in Afghanistan".

"I can tell you this is the last isolated base of terrorists in Afghanistan," Karzai told reporters.

"I told the US government yesterday (Tuesday) that I want this to take as much time as it may take. We are not going to be impatient," he said.

"We will do what is needed to finish terrorism in Afghanistan and in the region. We are determined like hell, like we were in the very beginning to finish it," he said.

He acknowledged that the military campaign in eastern Paktia province, involving international and Afghan forces, had faced tougher than expected resistance from
the al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

"We were not thinking there would be that many" fighters in the mountains of Paktia, he said.

"The initial estimate was that there would be 400 or 450 or so, but since yeasterday things are changing," he said.

"We had initial problems there. Some of our Afghan forces were attacked before they could reach their positions and those wounded are here in the hospital in
Kabul," he added without specifying the number of injured.

A US military spokesman said earlier Wednesday that some 400 al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters had been killed since the largest air and ground offensive of the war
began Saturday.

At the start of the offensive, the Pentagon gave a figure of "hundreds" of al-Qaeda and Taliban troops, but local Afghan commanders put the figure as high as 2,300.

---

U.S. and Taliban reinforce as peacekeepers die in Kabul
By Christine Hauser and Stuart Grudgings

Thursday March 7, 12:52 AM

GARDEZ/BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The U.S. army and their Taliban-al Qaeda foes reinforced their positions amid fierce fighting in the
mountains of eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, while in Kabul two German and three Danish peacekeepers died in a munitions accident.

Hundreds of U.S. troops were flown to the battlefield to counter the al Qaeda-Taliban fighters, who were believed to be bolstering their positions as infiltrators slip
into the mountain frontline to join besieged comrades.

In what has developed into the biggest battle of the war, the U.S. military said 500 of 1,000 rebels, including some high ranking leaders, had already died in six days
of fighting.

But General F.L. Buster Hagenbeck, commander of "Operation Anaconda", said more fundamentalist followers in the area were rushing to join in a holy war against
the United States.

"We have intelligence from a variety of sources...that the local fundamentalists have called a jihad (holy war) against the Americans and their coalition partners," he
told reporters at Bagram air base, 50 km (30 miles) north of the capital.

He said local leaders had been "funnelling, infiltrating fighters into this area".

"In our estimation, in the last 24 to 48 hours, the number of enemy that we've fought over time is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600 to 700."

Afghan commanders said the battle was twisting along a 10-km (six-mile) frontline of bunkers and caves up to the 3,000-metre peaks around the village of Shahi
Kot.

Hagenbeck said that only around 150-200 enemy fighters had been in the area when the U.S.-led attack began on Saturday east of Gardez, capital of Pakita
province, about 150 km (95 miles) south of Kabul.

At least eight U.S. and seven Afghan soldiers have died in the operation with about 40 Americans and 30 Afghans wounded.

There were five other Western casualties on Wednesday, when two German and three Danish peacekeepers died in an accident at a munitions site.

"There have been five deaths, of which two were German and three were Danish," German army chief Harald Kujat told a news conference.

Kujat said three other military were seriously injured in the accident, at a demolition range about two km (1.5 miles) from the German military base on the outskirts
of Kabul.

"They (the dead and injured) were setting up charges to blow up a surface-to-air missile," a German officer who asked not to be identified told Reuters in Kabul.

U.S. CLAIMS INITIATIVE

Despite their battlefield casualties, American commander Hagenbeck said his forces had the initiative and had suffered no casualties in the last two days.

He said that the Gardez fighting was unlikely to be the last battle of the war, given that thousands of Taliban fighters were still at large in Afghanistan.

In his first remarks on the latest fighting, interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai said the offensive was succeeding.

Asked by Reuters on the fifth day of the air and ground campaign how "Operation Anaconda" was going, he said: "Successful, successful."

It was his only comment after meeting Afghan Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim and other military officials in Kabul for an update on the fighting.

Afghan soldiers returning to Gardez from the front line said the rebels were making hit-and-run attacks on the combined U.S.-Afghan force of 1,500 besieging their
caves and bunkers.

"They are fighting a guerrilla war," Mohammad Yunis told Reuters. "They have divided into groups of four or five. They jump out of a cave, open fire on us and then
dart back into the cave or move to another one. They know the area very well."

The rebels were firing rockets of their own, mortar bombs and heavy machineguns. But the soldiers said the Taliban appeared to be running short of ammunition and
alliance forces were closer to the hideouts, sometimes as near as 100 metres.

Afghan commander Abdul Muteen said the rebels were determined to fight to the death.

"No one is even thinking of them surrendering. They have already chosen to die for their ideology," he told Reuters.

The region's governor warned that it could take weeks before the al Qaeda and Taliban forces were wiped out.

There are thousands of caves in the area and bunkers built to defend the area against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

The United States launched strikes on Afghanistan in October to flush out Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on American cities, and
punish his Taliban protectors.

Afghan officials believe neither bin Laden, the Saudi-born al Qaeda leader, nor Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar are in the battle area.

---

U.S. sends in Afghan cave-busting troops
By Christine Hauser and Stuart Grudgings

Wednesday March 6, 10:03 PM

GARDEZ/BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. troop reinforcements, loaded with equipment to attack caves, were airlifted into
mountain battlefields in east Afghanistan on Wednesday prepared for a dangerous lengthy hunt for diehard al Qaeda and Taliban rebels.

In his first remarks on the progress of the biggest U.S. led attack of the five-month-old Afghan War, interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai said the offensive was
succeeding despite the heaviest American casualties of the conflict .

Asked by Reuters on the fifth day of the air and ground campaign how the offensive, codenamed "Operation Anaconda" was going, he said: "Successful,
successful."

They were his only comments after meeting Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim and other military officials in Kabul for an update on the fighting.

A U.S. military official said on Wednesday U.S.-led forces had killed half the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters holed up in snow-capped mountains near the heavily
fortified town of Gardez, capital of Paktia province, in attacks that began last week.

"We've killed up to 500 or more," said Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Piatt at Bagram airbase outside Kabul which was becoming the main location for U.S. forces in
Afghanistan.

"Initially, we thought it was only about a couple of hundred but now we think it's about half (of the total enemy force)."

Piatt said it was unclear whether Taliban-Qaeda fighters had reinforced their positions about 30 kms (20 miles) from Gardez and 150 kms (95 miles) south of Kabul
near the Pakistan border.

"We're watching that very closely. These mountain ranges are very high ... right now it's hard to tell."

Eight U.S. troops and seven Afghan soldiers have died in the operation and about 40 U.S. and 30 Afghan troops have been wounded.

U.S. military officers in the battlefield spoke of stiffer resistance than expected.

"I don't think we knew what we were getting into this time, but I think we're beginning to adjust," said Sergeant Major Mark Nielsen, 48, from Indianapolis, in a
media pool report.

Afghan soldiers returning to Gardez from the front line said the rebels were making hit-and-run attacks on the combined U.S.-Afghan force of 1,500 besieging their
caves and bunkers.

"They are fighting a guerrilla war," Mohammad Yunis told Reuters. "They have divided into groups of four or five. They jump out of a cave, open fire on us and then
dart back into the cave or move to another one. They know the area very well."

PISTOL FIRE

The rebels were firing rockets of their own, mortar bombs and heavy machineguns. But the soldiers said the Taliban appeared to be running short of ammunition and
the alliance forces were closer to the hideouts, sometimes as near as 100 metres.

"We are getting so close to them now that sometimes we are just shooting with pistols," another Afghan soldier said.

Reuters correspondents in Gardez said they could see little U.S. bombing of the area now indicating aerial attacks were being held back to allow ground troops into
the area.

The region's governor warned it could take weeks before the al Qaeda and Taliban forces were wiped out.

Paktia Province governor Taj Mohammed Wardak said: "The encirclement of the rebels is getting more suffocating.

"I am certain the whole game will be over in a few weeks."

Overnight, U.S. Chinook helicopters took off from Bagram, a Soviet-built complex about 50 km (30 miles) north of Kabul.

Some troops carried shoulder-launched rockets crucial to blasting forces out of snow-covered cave entrances. They planned not only to attack occupied caves but
also entrances to others so they could not be used.

They also were equipped with night-vision equipment and dressed in winter uniforms against sub-zero temperatures.

There are thousands of caves in the area and bunkers built to defend the area against Soviet forces in the 1980's.

The United States launched strikes on Afghanistan in October to flush out Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, and
punish his Taliban protectors.

Afghan officials believe neither Saudi-born al Qaeda leader bin Laden nor Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are in the battle area.

U.S. Major Bryan Hilferty told Reuters at Bagram there had been a major movement of troops from the present main U.S. base near the southern city of Kandahar
to Bagram, and said there were around 1,000 U.S. troops actively involved in the battle.

U.S. defence officials told Reuters U.S. forces this week moved Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters into Afghanistan along with Army AH-64 Apaches,
already used in the operation.

The resurgence of fighting followed a lull of several weeks in which some Washington politicians questioned the U.S. campaign's success.

Fears have been raised that the country will fall back into the warlordism and anarchy that reigned before the rise of the ousted Taliban. The interim government is
trying to keep local warlords under control and prevent factional squabbles.

Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim on Wednesday ended a two-day meeting with warlords from all over the country whom he summoned to Kabul to
discuss the security situation.

With competing warlords threatening the peace, the United States and its allies are considering doubling the number of foreign peacekeepers, perhaps under U.S.
command, diplomats at the United Nations said.

So far the international security force in Afghanistan has been confined to Kabul and its environs, with 4,500 troops, despite pleas from Karzai, head of the
U.N.-backed interim government, to expand the force to other cities.

Meanwhile international peacekeepers in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had received credible intelligence reports about plans to kidnap a foreign journalist in
retaliation for the Gardez attack.

On Monday, a woman journalist working for Canada's Toronto Star newspaper was seriously wounded when a hand grenade was thrown at her car while covering
the fighting near Gardez.

"There is a serious threat about the kidnap of a journalist in retaliation for the operation in Gardez," said Captain Graham Dunlop, a spokesman for the multinational
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We urge journalists everywhere in Afghanistan to maintain extra vigilance and consider their movements."

Eight journalists, including two from Reuters, have been killed covering the war in Afghanistan since U.S. air strikes began last October.

---

UPDATE 1-Taliban fighters boosted by "jihad" call-U.S. general

Wednesday March 6, 9:55 PM

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. general commanding the largest ground offensive of the Afghan war said on Wednesday Taliban
and al Qaeda forces holed up in eastern mountains had been joined by hundreds of fighters after local leaders called for a holy war against the United States.

"We have intelligence from a variety of sources...that the local fundamentalists have called a jihad (holy war) against the Americans and their coalition partners,"
General F.L. Buster Hagenbeck told reporters at Bagram air base, about 50 km (30 miles) north of the capital Kabul.

He said the local leaders had been "funnelling, infiltrating fighters into this area".

"In our estimation, in the last 24 to 48 hours, the number of enemy that we've fought over time is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600 to 700."

Hagenbeck said that only around 150-200 enemy fighters had been in the area when the U.S.-led attack was launched on Saturday east of the city of Gardez,
provincial capital of Pakita province.

"In the last 24 hours, we have killed lots, lots of al Qaeda and Taliban. I won't give you precise numbers but we've got confirmed kills in the hundreds."

Hagenbeck also said the offensive had been launched following intelligence that Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the area had been plotting terrorist attacks against
the new administration in Kabul, but gave no further details.

He said that a U.S. soldier -- who was left behind during the operation when his helicopter made a rushed take-off after it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade --
had been captured and executed by al Qaeda fighters.

A rescue mission was quickly launched but it ran into heavy fire from Taliban forces. An 18-hour fire fight ensued, in which the six U.S. soldiers died and eight were
wounded.

Hagenbeck said that imaging equipment had shown that the soldier who fell from the helicopter had been captured by enemy forces.

"When we extracted all our forces, we brought home the body of that young sailor...from all indications, the al Qaeda executed him, probably before our forces got
there or immediately upon arrival," the general said.

Despite the loss of U.S. life and the arrival of Taliban reinforcements, Hagenbeck said that the U.S-led forces had the initiative and had suffered no casualties in the
last two days, compared to hundreds of Taliban dead.

"As long as they want to send them here, we'll kill them here. Should they go somewhere else, we'll go with our Afghan allies and coalition forces and kill them
wherever they go."

"...Not only have we killed a lot of their foot soldiers, but we have indications that we have disrupted, injured and possibly killed higher ranking leaders."

But he added that the battle near Gardez was unlikely to be the last battle of the war, given that thousands of Taliban fighters were still at large in Afghanistan.

---

Hope fades for finding survivors in Afghan quake

By Simon Denyer
Wednesday March 6, 7:33 PM

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Aid workers said on Wednesday there was little or no hope of finding survivors after a weekend earthquake triggered a landslide in
northern Afghanistan, flattening part of a village and killing about 100 people.

Rescue efforts are concentrated on battling a rising tide of water forming behind the landslide, which has blocked the main river running through the valley and is
flooding other parts of the village.

"Where the blockage is the water is rising, and this is destroying more houses," U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said by telephone from Kabul. "The snow is
also melting and this is bringing more water."

Two sections of a limestone cliff sheared off after the earthquake on Sunday, flattening 100 homes, shops and a mosque in the village in the Sarbakh Dakhi valley in
Samangan province, northern Afghanistan.

Eight bodies have been recovered, but villagers say another 70 residents were buried in the landslide.

There are also thought to be about 30 people buried in a roadside tea shop, most of them bus passengers on a rest stop in the village.

"This is not the type of material with boulders and large crevices where you get people trapped," said Raymond Jordan of Irish aid agency GOAL, who visited the
scene by helicopter on Monday.

"The dust is so fine it has penetrated every crack and fissure -- hence the reason the water is not flowing, as it is so compacted," he said. "It will be a minor miracle if
there is anyone alive down there."

The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale.

A team from the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and GOAL returned to the village on Tuesday, bringing food, blankets and other
essential supplies for villagers who have lost their homes.

WATER LEVEL RISING

They found the water level had risen by about three metres (10 feet) in 24 hours and already submerged about 300 homes. Water supplies to tens of thousands
more people downstream have also been cut off.

The rock face is so fissured and unstable aid workers say it would be dangerous to try to blast a hole in the dam, which is 150 to 200 metres long.

Instead, high-pressure water pumps would be used to cut a channel in the dam and allow the water to flow downstream. This water flow would then widen the
channel itself, Jordan said.

Mine-clearing charity Halo Trust has also sent a bulldozer to try to clear away part of the landslide and help recover bodies.

The earthquake, which struck in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan, was felt as far away as Dushanbe in Tajikistan and India's capital New Delhi.

Officials in the Afghan capital Kabul say six people were also killed there, while Bunker said there were also reports of three more deaths elsewhere in the country.

She said there were reports of two deaths and 340 houses destroyed in Khustak village in Jurm district in northeastern Badakhshan province, and another death with
47 houses damaged in the Baharak area of Badakhshan.

Earthquakes are relatively frequent in the Hindu Kush mountains. Another tremor of similar strength struck northern Afghanistan on January 3, but caused no
significant damage.

In 1998, two quakes killed about 8,500 people and destroyed tens of thousands of houses in Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.

---

Afghan peacekeepers warn of journalist kidnap threat
By Brian Williams
Wednesday March 6, 6:18 PM

KABUL (Reuters) - International peacekeepers in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they had received credible intelligence reports about plans to kidnap a foreign
journalist in retaliation for the biggest U.S.-led attack of the Afghan war.

On Monday, a woman journalist working for Canada's Toronto Star newspaper was seriously wounded when a hand grenade was thrown at her car while covering
the fighting between U.S.-led troops and al Qaeda-Taliban forces near the eastern town of Gardez.

"There is a serious threat about the kidnap of a journalist in retaliation for the operation in Gardez," said Captain Graham Dunlop, a spokesman for the multinational
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We urge journalists everywhere in Afghanistan to maintain extra vigilance and consider their movements."

Eight journalists, including two from Reuters, have been killed covering the war in Afghanistan since U.S. air strikes began last October.

Earlier this year, American reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed by suspected Islamic militants in neighbouring Pakistan in an apparent protest against
Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

DEEP CONCERN

Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF), in a statement faxed to Reuters after the attack on Monday, said it had sent a letter to Hamid Karzai, head of Afghanistan's interim
administration, expressing deep concern for the security of journalists in Afghanistan.

The Paris-based media rights group asked for the help of the Afghan government to protect reporters.

"With this being the biggest land-based operation carried out by the United States since the start of the conflict, it seems more urgent than ever to ensure the safety of
journalists in the field and to do everything possible not to add to the sad total of journalists already killed in Afghanistan," said Robert Menard, RSF's general
secretary.

Concerns that journalists could become targets in the war against the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and their al Qaeda allies rose after the kidnapping of the
Wall Street Journal's Pearl in the Pakistani city of Karachi on January 23.

Pearl was investigating possible links between alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid and the al Qaeda network of suspected September 11 mastermind Osama bin
Laden.

A group calling itself The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty accused him of being a spy -- first for the CIA and then for Israel. It
demanded the freeing of Pakistani prisoners held by the United States military.

A videotape subsequently surfaced in Karachi confirming he had been killed.

---

US forces bombard Afghan mountains as cave complex captured

Wednesday March 6, 4:57 PM(AFP)

US-led air and ground forces assaulted al-Qaeda strongholds in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan after capturing a cave complex in the biggest offensive of the
Afghan war.

US and coalition ground forces at times launched attacks simultaneously with air strikes in the mountains south of Gardez, where warplanes have been pounding
al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts since early Saturday.

"I think the biggest single change is -- not to be flip -- that we killed a lot of people," Air Force Brigadier General John Rosa told reporters in Washington.

"They're not roaming around free like they were, they're dug in, they're hunkered in," said Rosa, deputy director of current operations of the Joint Staff.

Eight US servicemen have been killed in Operation Anaconda, making it the deadliest for US forces since the military campaign in Afghanistan began on October 7.

But Washington says the casualties are believed much higher for the al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, who have been hit by Apache attack helicopters and Air Force
fighters.

"On Tuesday we caught several hundred of them with RPGs and mortars heading toward the fight. We body slammed them today and killed hundreds of those
guys," Major General Frank L. Hagenbeck said on the ground.

In Washington, Rosa said the coalition forces have been able to get into at least one cave complex.

"We've discovered mortars, rocket-propelled grenade rounds, small arms, and in a different location we found more weapons and ammunition as well as foreign
drivers licenses, and foreign passports," he said.

Sergeant Major Mark Nielsen described entering a compound where US forces seized an electronic book, a state identification card from Saudi Arabia, a receipt
for a hotel in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad, and other documents.

"It was unbelievable, in the mud hut where these guys slept, the beds were still warm and tea was still brewing," he said.

Some 2,000 allied troops including around 950 US regular and special forces troops are taking part in Operation Anaconda, named after the snake that encircles
and crushes its prey.

Some 200 commandos from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway are on the ground, according to the Pentagon.

Local commander Wazir Khan Zadran, who command some of the estimated 1,000 allied Afghan troops, said the coalition launched a few ground attacks overnight,
as heavy bombing continued.

"Some ground was gained against al-Qaeda during the overnight attack towards Shahi Kot," the southern frontline, Zadran told the Afghan Islamic Press, a
Pakistan-based news service.

But he said no ground attacks had been initiated yet on the western and eastern fronts of the al-Qaeda hold-out.

General Tommy Franks, who commands the Afghan military operation, said the use of ground troops did not constitute a change of tactics.

"What happens is any time we conduct a military operation, what we will do is we'll first off take into account the enemy and how an enemy may be disposed," he
said.

"I think we learn both the positive and the critical lessons from each one of these operations. And so, of course, Tora Bora was considered as we decided what we
were going to do for Anaconda."

In December, US forces were content to play a supporting role in the mountains of Tora Bora against the same enemy, under siege for two weeks by Afghan allies
on the ground. Small numbers of US special forces were engaged in the conflict, but the main US contribution came from bombing raids.

In Kabul meanwhile, Afghanistan's major warlords came together for a landmark meeting on forming a new national army, a development seen as vital if the country
is to achieve lasting stability.

---

British special forces lead hunt for Taliban's Omar

Wednesday March 6, 4:33 PM(AFP)

British special forces are leading a hunt in southern Afghanistan for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, a newpaper reported here, citing defence sources.

The operation, with the aid of US troops and Afghan fighters, follows intelligence reports that Omar is in the area with a number of his lieutenants, though there is no
suggestion that prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden is there too, the sources told The Independent.

Around 50 British special forces have carried out more than half a dozen raids as part of the hunt, mainly in Kandahar province, they added.

A number of Taliban fighters have been killed and captured and documents discovered in the operation, while allied Afghan fighters have also lost lives, said the
defence sources.

Last month, Yunus Qanooni, interior minister of the new US-backed government in Kabul, told the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that Mullah Omar was
probably moving within Helmand province near the border with Pakistan, while bin Laden could be in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Bin Laden, head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, is the chief suspect behind the suicide airline hijackings that hit the United States on September 11.

In retaliation for the terror strikes, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan on October 7, overthrowing the Taliban government in Kabul and routing its
al-Qaeda guests, killing and capturing many of them while forcing others to flee.

---

Al-Qaeda fighters seen dragging off fallen American: official

Wednesday March 6, 1:41 PM(AFP)

Three al-Qaeda men dragged off a US special forces man who fell from a helicopter during combat in eastern Afghanistan as his commander watched it on a video
feed from a reconnaissance drone.

The man, identified as 32-year-old Navy Petty Officer Neil Roberts, was found shot dead hours later, a spokesman for the US Central Command said Tuesday.

Roberts was the first of seven American troops killed Monday in a series of firefights that erupted as US special forces MH-47 helicopters were inserting special
forces teams into a contested area in the mountains south of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.

An MH-47 Chinook that was carrying Roberts was hit by a rocket propelled grenade as it was landing, and abruptly took off, officials have said.

Pentagon officials said that Roberts was apparently knocked off the helicopter, although his loss was not noticed until after the aircraft was forced to land a few
kilometers away because of mechanical problems.

"We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three al-Qaeda men," said Major General Frank "Buster" Hagenbeck, the US commander on the ground.

The Predator drones are fitted with television cameras that relay live video imagery to commanders on the ground.

"Another helicopter flew in to rescue the downed aircraft, and that helicopter included a quick reaction force of about 30 special operations troops," Hagenbeck
said.

"I know that when his body was found, he had been shot," said Major Ralph Mills at the Tampa, Florida based Central Command.

Pentagon officials said the body was recovered by a second group of soldiers that were flown in three hours later to the same vicinity on two MH-47 Chinooks,
which also came under fire as they landed.

One of the Chinooks was hit by machine gunfire and a rocket propelled grenade and either crash landed or made a hard landing, said Brigadier General John Rosa,
deputy director of current operations of the Joint Staff.

The soldiers were immediately engaged in a firefight with al-Qaeda as they dismounted the two helicopters, he said.

Six were killed and 11 were wounded in the fighting, Pentagon officials said.

They then were stranded for 12 to 14 hours with their dead and wounded until rescue helicopters were flown in under cover of darkness to get them, a defense
official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not known whether any of the American dead would have survived had they been extracted sooner, the official said. The wounded had "fairly minor injuries,"
he said.

AC-130 gunships and fighter aircraft were used to keep the al-Qaeda fighters at bay, he said.

"They had close air support during all that time," the defense official said. "Basically, they took out a lot of the enemy."

An estimated 40 to 50 al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the fighting, he said.

It was the highest US casualty toll on a single day since the start of the war on October 7.

It was unclear how long the firefight lasted, but Rosa said it was "quite a time" before US forces were able to get search and rescue helicopters in to retrieve all the
troops.

By then the troops on the ground had recovered the body of the missing man from the first helicopter.

"When you're going to go do a rescue operation, things have to be just right. You have to be very careful because you'd have another one or two helicopters down,"
he said.

"But that was a very successful operation. We got everybody out," he said.

Rosa defended the commander's decision to send the slow moving Chinooks into what proved to be a hot landing zone.

"In combat, you can never be sure that you're risk free and that the landing zone will be completely free. Since that time we have made several infils and exfils and
have had quite a bit of success," he said.

---

Rumsfeld/Franks -3: Reports Of Enemy Reinforcements

Thursday March 7, 1:54 AM

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. is stepping up the pressure on al-Qaida and non-Afghan Taliban forces who have been surrounded by Operation
Anaconda and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the outcome of the battle was very likely foreordained that the al-Qaida will be wiped out.
"The Afghan coalition forces are turning up the pressure on the al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains south of Gardez. The battle very likely will take some
time to play out. I believe that the outcome is reasonably assured, that the people who have been in the battle will either be - surrender or be killed in the days
ahead," Rumsfeld said.

Looking at the larger picture, Rumsfeld said that Operation Anaconda should make it clear to everyone in the world that the U.S. will defend itself.

Referring to previous U.S. casualties, Rumsfeld said: "Their service and their sacrifice should be a lesson to those who contemplate that terror against America can
work. If you attack the United States, if people try to kill our men, women and children, we intend to stop them," Rumsfeld said.

"There will be a penalty. And the American people are patient, they're determined, and our forces are certainly as courageous as they are relentless. Our objective is
not revenge, it is not retribution; rather, it's to protect our country and our people from further attack. It is just that simple," he added.

Rumsfeld also made the point that as long as the al-Qaida are holed up and being bombed, this prevents them from doing even more damage to the U.S. or its allies.

"A terrorist under fire in the mountains of Afghanistan is a terrorist who has bigger problems than trying to plan the next attack on the United States. The only defense
is offense," Rumsfeld said.

Looking beyond Operation Anaconda, Rumsfeld said the broad U.S. strategy is to deny terrorists any safe havens in the world and he vowed to pursue that
objective through U.S. military help and military actions.

Both General Tommy Franks, the regional commander, and Rumsfeld said there have been no new U.S. servicemen killed in the last 24 hours. Previously, U.S.
officials have confirmed the death of 8 servicemen in the attack.

Neither Franks or Rumsfeld gave any new estimates for al-Qaida or Taliban casualties. On Monday, Franks said he believed about 200 al-Qaida or Taliban troops
had been killed and he didn't dispute reports from the field that U.S. forces caught several hundred al-Qaida forces in the open and decimated them.

Likewise, Gen. Franks didn't dispute reports that additional al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have streamed into the 60-to-70 square mile battle zone. He did say that
there is no sign that any of the al-Qaida or Taliban forces in the battle zone have been able to escape.

Rumsfeld appeared unperturbed by such reports and said the U.S. will go after al-Qaida wherever they are.

Rumsfeld also said he believed reports that al-Qaida forces are trying to regroup in Pakistan and praised Pakistan for the its efforts to round up these forces.

"Pakistan authorities have been terrific. They have been - if you'll think about it, there's no map, but the current activity is very near the Pakistan border, and they do
have people along the border, and they've been very helpful. To the extent they find people that need to be detained, they do it," Rumsfeld said.

Franks did confirm the U.S. has reinforced the U.S. troops on the ground with 200 to 300 new soldiers. Previously, Franks said the U.S. had about 900 soldiers in
the battle working with 200 coalition special forces and 900 Afghan allies. He wouldn't rule out the possibility that more troops would be brought into the battle.

In addition to the new troops on the ground, the U.S. has brought in more attack helicopters. Franks said this was necessary because the fight is a "dangerous
environment" for attack helicopters and several had been chewed up in the fighting.

Rumsfeld became a bit impatient over persistent questioning over the death of Navy SEAL Neil Roberts who fell from a helicopter and was seen being dragged
away by al-Qaida fighters. U.S. forces went back into the area to retrieve Roberts.

Asked at one point whether the decision to go back was taken because of the experience of the U.S. in Mogadishu in which dead Americans were dragged through
the streets, Rumsfeld snapped, "This has nothing to do with Mogadishu."

On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr. said the decision to go back after Roberts stemmed simply from the U.S. military's code that no Americans are left behind of
the battlefield.