US-led forces said this morning they were continuing to bomb al-Qaeda and Taliban positions in eastern Afghanistan but that resistance was weakening.
Coalition spokesman Maj Bryan Hilferty said five Afghan soldiers fighting with the US-led forces had been injured in the past 24 hours but that little fire was coming from the militants, who have been hit by relentless bombing for 10 days.
"Fighting continues to be very light. In fact, in the past four days we have not received sustained or accurate enemy fire," he said.
"The al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists seem to be in much smaller pockets now, not concentrations like we saw in the first few days".
But he said: "We'll continue to work our way through this area until we are satisfied that we have taken out all the al-Qaeda terrorists and the Taliban extremists".
The US military yesterday pulled 400 soldiers out of the frontline and said the coalition had secured control over al-Qaeda's former stronghold in the Shahi Kot valley. Some 200 more US soldiers were seen returning to Bagram Air Base this morning.
Operation Anaconda has left eight US servicemen dead, the highest US toll since the Afghan military campaign began October 7th. Three allied Afghans have also died in the operation, along with at least 500 al-Qaeda or Taliban.