War's Fiercest Battle Yet

Eight American soldiers have been killed in what is being called "Operation Anaconda," the biggest battle of the war in Afghanistan - a battle bigger than the U.S. expected.

According to a senior Pentagon official, the U.S. "grossly underestimated" the level of resistance American forces would meet when they attacked a pocket of several hundred al Qaeda fighters.

Seven American soldiers were killed and 11 were wounded Monday when two U.S. helicopters took enemy fire. Fighting was fierce, by all accounts, in difficult conditions.

The men killed Monday were not the first U.S. casualties in the new offensive, which appeared far from finished. Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley Harriman, 34, of Wade, N.C., was killed in a ground attack Saturday.

The first helicopter incident occurred in the pre-dawn hours Monday, when a Chinook MH-47 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade as it dropped off a reconnaissance patrol. The grenade didn't explode but one soldier fell out.

"As the pilot lifted the helicopter off, I believe one crew member may have fallen from the helicopter. I do not believe that was recognized immediately," said Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command.

Three-and-a-half hours later, another helicopter came back to get him. This helicopter was hit by machinegun fire and crash-landed in the midst of the enemy.

"Forces on that helicopter got off and immediately came in contact with the enemy force, and that is the place that the casualties came from," said Franks.

The survivors held out for more than 12 hours until they were finally rescued. By then they had suffered the largest single combat loss of the war.

Besides the soldier lost when he fell from his chopper, officials said six soldiers were killed in the second incident. Franks had said seven or eight were killed in the second incident, but officials revised the count later Monday.

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

At least 40 American troops have been wounded in the operation launched Friday against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban believed regrouping near Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.

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

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

"We knew that al Qaeda 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."

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 Myers 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.

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."

Mr. 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."

Rumsfeld said because of the efforts of al Qaeda 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 Qaeda 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.

Some of the fighters have experience using missiles to shoot down helicopters from the Mujahideen 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.