Entering its sixth bloody day, the Afghan battle that would be over in 24 hours

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Some had talked of wrapping up the operation in eastern Afghanistan in little more than 24 hours. Some thought the Taliban and al-Qa'ida forces of no more than a couple of hundred would take to their heels and flee once the mighty US ground forces flexed their muscles.

But with the desperate battle for Shah-i-Kot this morning entering its sixth bloody day, two things have become increasingly clear: that the US has been surprised by the strength and tenacity of the Taliban and al-Qa'ida forces, and that those forces intend to battle to the end. At least eight US soldiers have already lost their lives in the struggle for those frozen wastes.

"[They are] a brutal and determined adversary," the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld admitted yesterday, as he briefed reporters at the Pentagon on developments in Operation Anaconda. The general overseeing operations inside Afghanistan, US Central Command chief Tommy Franks, added: "I would characterise them as very hard, committed and deadly fighters. I think the days ahead are going to be dangerous for our forces."

Up to 900 rebel Arab, Chechen, Uzbek and Taliban fighters may be dug in and "bunkered down" in the remote mountains 60 miles south of Gardez, in eastern Afghan-istan's Paktia province, two or three times the size of the force originally anticipated. It seems the initial group holding out at altitudes of up to 12,000ft has been swelled by hundreds of fighters, answering calls from local leaders to join in a holy war against the US forces now so visibly on the ground.

"We have intelligence from a variety of sources ... that the local fundamentalists have called a jihad against the Americans and their coalition partners," General 'Buster' Hagenbeck, commander of Operation Anaconda, told reporters at Bagram air base, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. He said local leaders had been "funnelling [and] infiltrating fighters into this area". He said: "In our estimation, in the last 24 to 48 hours, the number of enemy we've fought over time is in the neighbourhood of 600 to 700."

Other sources put the numbers higher. General Hagenbeck added: "In the last 24 hours, we have killed lots ... lots of al-Qa'ida and Taliban. I won't give you precise numbers but we've got confirmed kills in the hundreds."

The US is bolstering its soldiers with troops from elsewhere in Afghanistan. Of the 2,000 or so allied forces now encircling the 60 square miles around Shah-i-Kot, General Franks said 1,100 were American soldiers from the élite 10th Mountain Division and the 101st Airborne Division as well as special forces. The remainder of the allied force consists of Afghan soldiers and special forces from six coalition countries. The SAS is leading a hunt for the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar Mohammad, in southern Afghanistan.

The US is also having to fly in more equipment and hardware. More than a dozen AH-64 Apache gunships and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters have been dispatched. All the Apaches brought in initially have been shot up by the Taliban and al-Qa'ida forces.

"We are adding firepower," said one US official, explaining that a small number of additional A-10 Warthog jets were also being sent. These "tankbusters" are armed with rapid-fire cannon and missiles and will attack dug-in enemy positions and caves.

America appears determined, despite its forces suffering its worst losses in battle since 1993 when 18 soldiers were killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, a bloody, desperate incident, lodged in the wider US psyche, and featured in the film Black Hawk Down.

On Monday, seven soldiers were killed in separate incidents around Shah-i-Kot, after helicopters tried to insert forces into areas they found were heavily defended. Video footage from an unmanned Predator drone revealed one American, Petty Officer Neil Roberts, a Navy Seal, being dragged away by three al-Qa'ida or Taliban fighters. Some have likened the incident to events in Mogadishu when the body of an Army Ranger was dragged through the frenzied streets. "This has nothing to do with Mogadishu," Mr Rumsfeld insisted yesterday. "The individual who was killed ... his body was retrieved. I don't see any comparison."

The footage was shot on Monday after PO Roberts, 32, fell from a MH-47 Chinook helicopter that had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. His disappearance was not noticed until the helicopter landed a mile away. His comrades returned and found his body.

The Predator footage does not show if he was alive when he was dragged away, though General Hagenbeck said he had probably been killed by his captors. "When we extracted all our forces, we brought home the body of that young sailor. From all indications, the al-Qa'ida executed him, probably before our forces got there or immediately upon arrival."

There is also footage of an incident hours later when a second insertion team also encountered heavy fire near the site of PO Roberts' death. A team of 21 special forces were dropped off but six of them were killed in a firefight. Of the 15 still alive, 11 were wounded, some seriously. For up to 18 hours, this small force among the rocks held off the enemy. Pentagon officials were able to watch the men scramble around the bare mountainside as a "large force of enemy forces" advanced on them. Eventually the survivors – and the special forces team that had recovered PO Roberts' body– were flown out.

Some have sought to portray was what essentially a miscalculation and a failure of military intelligence as heroism. "When the history of the war is written, the traumatic battle in the mountains around Shah-i-Kot will be remembered as a testament to heroism," the USA Today newspaper said. "A bloodied, outnumbered band of US servicemen held off a determined al-Qa'ida force on frigid, rocky terrain at least 8,000ft above sea level. Call it Black Hawk Down in the snow."

There are other deadly dangers in Afghanistan. Yesterday two German and three Danish soldiers were killed and seven others injured in a blast at a Kabul ammunition dump. Thirty 30 allied soldiers have been killed since the American military operation began in October. They will not be the last.