U.S., Afghan allies deploy more troops against al-Qaida

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- Fierce fighting raged for a fifth day as the United States deployed hundreds of reinforcements Wednesday and gathered 5,000 Afghan troops for an offensive aimed at finishing off al-Qaida.

The U.S.-led coalition mounted punishing, round-the-clock airstrikes above the rugged terrain in eastern Afghanistan and some U.S. officers predicted the operation could be wrapped up in days.

In Kabul, five peacekeepers -- two Germans and three Danes -- were killed in an explosion while trying to defuse anti-aircraft missiles.

The Pentagon said opposition fighters were still putting up stiff resistance after five days of battle, some of it above 10,000 feet in snow-covered mountains. As fighter jets and bombers hit targets, more attack helicopters were called in to boost the firepower in the largest U.S.-led offensive of the 5-month-old war.

U.S. estimates of enemy strength appeared to have been low going into the offensive. Initially, said mission commander Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck, estimates put opposition strength at 150 to 200 fighters. Subsequently, U.S. officers revised those numbers to "the neighborhood of 600 to 700 enemy."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was asked about discrepancy Wednesday and said accurate predictions were impossible going into a battle.

"We've been looking at that area for weeks and have a great deal of intelligence information, but it is not possible to have a good count," Rumsfeld said.

A local Afghan commander, who goes by the single name Isatullah, said U.S. forces received enemy estimates from an Afghan military leader from a different region.

"What were they thinking of getting their intelligence from a commander who was not even from this area?" asked Isatullah, another Afghan commander.

U.S. forces were working with Zia Lodin, an Afghan commander from Logar Province to the north of Paktia Province, where the battle is under way. Lodin had 450 Afghan fighters when the mission began.

The al-Qaida and Taliban forces are armed mainly with motars, cannons, rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and AK-47 automatic rifles.

The commander of the operation, code-named Operation Anaconda, said U.S.-led troops had the upper hand after killing hundreds of fighters -- about half the al-Qaida members holed up in the hills around the village of Shah-e-Kot. U.S. troops were searching their cave hide-outs.

"We own the dominant terrain in the area," Hagenbeck told reporters Wednesday at Bagram air base north of the capital, Kabul. "We truly have the momentum at this point."

Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander in the war in Afghanistan, said he has increased the number of Americans in the operation by 200 to 300 over the past two days, for a total of roughly 1,100.

"I think the days ahead are going to continue to be dangerous days for our forces," he said in Washington. "But the alternative to taking such a risk is not acceptable."

About 1,000 or so more Afghans have been fighting alongside the Americans, and their commander said they were also bringing in fresh units, drawing from parts of Paktia, Logar and Ghazi provinces.