BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN

U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said in a statement that Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters attacked coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday in a strike highlighting the dangers posed by a mobile, elusive enemy.

One U.S. soldier was in a stable condition after being shot in the arm in the overnight attack and three U.S.-allied Afghan fighters died on a checkpoint outside the airport at Khost near the eastern border with Pakistan.

U.S. army spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty said the attack started at about midnight and lasted several hours.

A number of U.S. troops were hurt yesterday when an MH-53 special forces helicopter in which they were riding made a hard landing in southern Afghanistan, U.S. defense officials said. The cause of the accident is not known yet.

More than 1,000 U.S. and Canadian troops were pulled out of Shahi Kot this week after blowing up and sealing off an elaborate network of caves in the mountains, some of which soar higher than 12,000 feet (3,700 meters).

Tuesday, U.S. officials declared "Operation Anaconda" officially over but said coalition forces would continue to hunt down pockets of resistance.

Hilferty said search operations were underway around Khost and Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.

"When we have someplace that we know there is an enemy, we will go to direct action," he told Reuters.

"We are doing surveillance and reconnaissance trying to find them, locating them as we did that convoy, trying to get them to surrender," he added. "And if they fail that, engaging them."

The U.S. military says it killed hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters during the fighting in Paktia and has rejected suggestions by Afghan commanders that most of the rebel force slipped away over the rugged mountains.
At least eight U.S. servicemen and seven Afghan soldiers were killed in the fighting. Some Afghan officials and commanders doubt that 'Anaconda' is success, saying Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters slipped out from the battlefield.

Britain announced Monday it was sending up to 1,700 troops to Afghanistan -- its largest deployment for combat operations since the 1991 Gulf War -- to help U.S. forces take on remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.