| American ground forces mounted a helicopter and gunship assault into southern Afghanistan Friday night and early today in a risky nighttime raid that opened a new phase in America's war on terrorism, military officials said. More than 100 Army Rangers and other special forces swooped down by helicopter on at least one main military target on the outskirts of Kandahar, the spiritual headquarters of the Taliban and headquarters of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban's leader. Two American military personnel were killed in a helicopter accident related to the mission as the helicopter returned to its base in Pakistan, the Pentagon said. Two military officials said the two troops killed were crew members aboard a search-and- rescue helicopter on stand-by in support of the raids. The craft never entered Afghanistan. The United States has about 250 Marines stationed at a Pakistani base in Jacobabad, 200 miles southeast of Kandahar, for search-and-rescue missions. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the raid in Afghanistan itself, but officials cautioned that they still did not have a complete accounting of the troops involved. |