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At least 18 rebels killed in Afghanistan firefight
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. and coalition military forces were clearing terrain Tuesday in southern Afghanistan at the site of what U.S. military sources are calling the largest military action in the country since last spring's Operation Anaconda. At least 18 members of a fundamentalist militia were killed in the battle. Exact numbers may be difficult to determine because of heavy firepower directed at caves where rebels were hiding, Lt. Col. Michael Shield said. "We continue to clear caves," Shield said. "The scope, in terms of the terrain, the number of caves, is large and it will take some time." No coalition casualties were reported. The fighting took place near the border with Pakistan. As of late Monday, some 200 U.S. and coalition troops were involved in the fighting, according to a Pentagon official. The battle began before noon Monday after a small patrol of U.S. Special Forces raided a walled compound 10 miles north of the border town of Spin Boldak, Col. Roger King, spokesman for U.S. 18th Airborne Corps said. One Afghan was killed in an initial gunfight and another was captured. That detainee then told U.S. troops about a larger contingent, estimated at around 80 fighters, holed up in the Adi Ghar mountains just north of the town. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, acting on the tip, flew the initial sortie from Kandahar Air Base and came under attack. Heavier firepower -- B-1 bombers, AC-130 gunships and F-16 fighters -- then joined the fray, Col. King said. Some 20 2,000 pound bombs have already been dropped in the region, King explained. The fighters are believed to be loyal to Gulbedin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister during the civil war of the early 1990s. Hekmatyar is a Islamic fundamentalist who later took refuge in Iran and now, according to Afghan and U.S. intelligence sources, has sided with remnant Taliban and al Qaeda units to fight American troops. Some of the caves checked so far have had netting and sandbags, Shield said. "I think the scope and magnitude of the caves is greater than what our commanders expected," the Colonel added. "It's without a doubt the largest concentration of enemy forces we've come across since Operation Anaconda" in March 2002, King said. As it applies to Afghanistan, the term "coalition forces" means not only U.S. military, but forces from other sovereign nations and Afghanistan. CNN correspondents Karl Penhaul and Barbara Starr contributed to this report
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