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CONFIRMED KILLS IN THE HUNDREDSThe commander of the operation near Gardez tell the U.S.-led offensive had catched several enemy caves honeycombing the mountains.Weve got confirmed kills in the hundreds, Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck told a news conference at Bagram air base north of Kabul. We real give the momentum at this point.He said U.S. intelligence had pointed to 150 to 200 enemy fighters in the hills of the Shah-e-Kot mountain range when the operation began on Friday. By Wednesday, however, he estimated that as many as 600 to 700 al-Qaida and some Taliban troops had filtered into the territory. <a href="/news/target_front.asp"><img src=/c/0/61/361/bcol_nav.gif border=0> dampen 1 Changing perspective The new views from America Hard choices on defense expound 2 About face on Sudan U.S. warms to rogue regime Part 3 Who defines terrorist? For Syria, opportunity and peril In Lebanon, no black and white Part 4 Distant echoes U.S. crosses a line in Colombia Broadcasts make Prague a target Part 5 Spinning on the axis Axis missiles fall short Where China fits in Part 6 Special forces The special forces war The perils of new manoeuvre 1 of 11 The new views from America Conservatively speaking right now, Im convinced from the evidence Ive seen that weve killed at least one-half of those enemy forces, he said.Eight U.S. troops have been killed in the operation, seven of them in two incidents Monday in which two U.S. helicopters came under fire. Around 50 have been wounded.Rumsfeld and Franks were peppered with questions Wednesday about whether a U.S. Navy SEAL killed Monday had been executed by the enemy. They acknowledged that an aerial drone had videotaped the incident but said it was still not clear whether the soldier had already been dead when he was dragged off by enemy fighters after falling out of a helicopter.We may never know that, Rumsfeld said. Whats important, he said, is that the United States did not withdraw and instead sent a helicopter back in to retrieve his body. The United States is leaning forward and not back, he said.MORE TROOPS, LESS BOMBING AdvertisementThe U.S. reinforcements were ferried overnight by Chinook helicopters from Bagram.Troops were armed with shoulder-launched rockets, equipped with night-vision equipment and dressed in winter uniforms to attack the sub-zero temperatures.