BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As the U.S. military and its allies are planning new attacks on several pockets of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, believed to be hiding in southern and eastern Afghanistan, hundreds of coalition soldiers are continuing to pursue and search their hideouts in their last known stronghold, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday.

The Washington Post quoted Army Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck as saying that intelligence-gathering planes were flying around-the-clock focusing on two or three areas "where the Al-Qaeda and Taliban movements began and where they historically have had support."

Refusing to disclose when the new attacks would begin, Hagenbeck said the information would be used to aid U.S. and allied forces weigh decisions about how to conduct the attacks, the Post said, including using mainly allied Afghan forces, involving mainly U.S. Special Forces or one consisting only of airstrikes.

Presently, U.S.-led forces in the region continue to "destroy Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists ... disrupt terrorist support mechanisms and exfiltration routes" around the Shahi Kot valley in eastern Paktia province, Major Bryan Hilferty told reporters at a U.S. base, north of the capital Kabul.

Operation Anaconda, the current U.S.-led offensive against diehard Al-Qaeda and Taliban troops launched on March 2, is winding down, but 500 soldiers continue to search a network of caves and secure the area, Hilferty added.

"Our Afghan allies occupy the Shahi Kot Valley, while U.S. and Canadian infantry troops occupy the ridge line known as 'The Whale'.

"We have found and exploited more than 20 caves, with ammunition caches, food, clothing and numerous sensitive items... We will continue to seek out and destroy and attack Taliban terrorists and Al-Qaeda extremists in Afghanistan."

Hagenbeck told the Post he believed Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces were warned of Operation Anaconda. "We didn't have . . . operational surprise," he said." There are no secrets in Afghanistan," saying that poor weather forced him to delay the attack for two days, until March 2, leaving his troops assembled and ready for battle for some time before they moved. When he gave the order to attack, he said, "I was convinced that by then that many people knew the operation was coming."

Asked what objectives had been achieved, Hilferty said: "So far we have destroyed their command and control, we've destroyed their caches, we've killed hundreds of the Al-Qaeda terrorists, who will not be around now to kill innocent men, women and children.

"This has been a great success so far."

Most of the troops still taking part in the operation were now Canadian, while 150 Afghans were also involved.

Despite fierce aerial raids and close combat, the mountainous landscape and a vast labyrinth of caves, a senior military official said Saturday that the operation had managed to wipe out the core military leadership of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and few fighters had managed to escape.

Hagenbeck emphatically rejected reports by journalists, who toured the Shahikot Valley and expressed skepticism about U.S. statements that as many as 700 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were killed in the battle. Afghan commanders have also questioned the casualty count, reported the Post.