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No sign of surrender by 'hard-core' al Qaeda

U.S. troops are bundled up to shield them from the cold as they scan the mountains for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Al Qaeda fighters showed no signs of surrender even as U.S.-led coalition forces dominated much of the high ground in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, military officials said Friday.

"These are very well-trained fighters," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday. "These are dead-enders. These are hard-line types."

A winter storm obscured the view of allied aircraft bombing runs into the mountains of Paktia province, but bombs shook the ground in the provincial capital Gardez, and the drone of allied aircraft was an almost constant reminder that the weeklong battle was not yet over.

Despite heavy fog and snowstorms, military officials said Operation Anaconda is "right on plan" and that their forces were equipped for wintertime fighting.

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Reports from the battlefield indicated light fighting to the north in Paktia province with heavier fighting to the south. CNN's Nic Robertson reported sporadic fighting Friday around Gardez; Afghan commanders said 13 of their fighters had been wounded.

'They're not just peasants'

Military officials also said the coalition forces had engaged a pocket of hard-core fighters.

"This hardened enemy are the same type of people that executed the events of 11 September. It's obvious ... that they're not just peasants," said Lt. Col. Joe Smith of the Coalition Joint Task Force.

Rumsfeld, meanwhile, declined to speculate on whether Osama bin Laden might be in the area of the fighting.

"We're looking for him and we're ultimately going to find him," he said. "Wherever he is, he is not happy." (Full story)

Operation Anaconda began a week ago when intelligence indicated that al Qaeda and Taliban fighters were gathering near Gardez to coordinate an attack on Afghanistan's interim government. Because they massed in one central location, Smith said, the allied cause got a boost.

"These are highly trained military soldiers and I couldn't imagine how long it would take if we tried to track them down one at a time," Smith said. "So here we didn't have to, they came together and I think they underestimated us."

Pentagon officials Thursday put the confirmed number of enemy dead at 450 but said they estimate the real number is 650. The estimate, they said, is based on new information that 1,000 enemy fighters could have been in the area when the campaign began Friday, well above the initial estimate.

The United States now has 1,200 troops on the ground in the area, the Pentagon said. A new contingent of attack helicopters also was being brought in.

U.S. forces 'very patient and very careful'

U.S. officials strongly disputed news reports that 500 enemy reinforcements had come in from Pakistan, but they acknowledged that some reinforcements had crossed the border in recent days.

Eleven allied fighters -- including eight Americans -- have been killed and about 70 others wounded in action, U.S Army spokesman Bryan Hilferty said Thursday. There have been no U.S. casualties since Monday, which U.S. officials attributed to the United States gaining control of the battle area.

The U.S. Army presented the Purple Heart on Friday to six soldiers wounded Saturday in the operation.

"It is an honor for me today to recognize these soldiers as representative of those who are wounded in action or killed in action. It's an honor for me to be able to participate in this and I'm humble to be in the presence of such courage and such heroism," Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek said.

U.S. officials have said the operation is not over and will not be completed until all pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban forces have been removed. Hilferty said U.S. forces are being very patient and very careful.

Meanwhile, An F-14 aircraft involved in Operation Enduring Freedom crashed into the North Arabian Sea Friday as it was attempting to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

Neither of the two crewmembers pulled from the water was seriously injured, the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement. Their names were being withheld until their families are notified.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson, Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr and CNN's Martin Savidge contributed to this report.