Heavy US casualties as al-Qaeda hits back

THE Pentagon admitted last night that al-Qaeda fighters had inflicted heavy losses on American forces in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, killing at least eight US soldiers and wounding about 40 more as two transport helicopters came under fire.
The casualties, the heaviest since America’s ill-fated mission in Somalia nearly a decade ago, were suffered during the most intense ground combat of the five-month conflict.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, warned the American public that the battle around Shahi-Kot, known as Operation Anaconda, was unlikely to be al-Qaeda’s “last stand” and tough combat lay ahead.