Sunday October 7 10:38 PM EST

Taliban says civilians killed in U.S.-British attacks on Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Afghan civilians were killed in the U.S.-British attack on Afghanistan, the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan said Monday. He refused to say how many but termed the attacks "huge." "There were casualties," Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef told The Associated Press. "Civilians died. It was a very huge attack."

Zaeef did not explain where he got his information, and he could not say where the deaths purportedly occurred. U.S. and British forces hit targets in at least three cities - Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad - with missiles and warplanes in the Sunday night strikes.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Answers

Monday October 8, 7:52 AM

Kabul reports deaths, America vows not to relent

By Brian Williams and Sayed Salahuddin

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led bombing raids on Afghanistan caused deaths in the capital of Kabul, residents reported on Monday, as President Bush vowed attacks would go on until those suspected of suicide aircraft attacks on America were driven out of their caves and into the open.

Aided by Britain in raids that included missile strikes, President Bush said the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and its military were paying the price for supporting terrorism and sheltering Osama bin Laden, accused of Sept. 11's attacks on New York and Washington which killed about 5.600 people.

The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency said at least 20 people died in Kabul.

AIP, based in Peshawar in neighboring Pakistan, said 10 people were killed near Kabul airport on the northeastern edge of the capital and another 10 died when a bomb fell near the Voice of Shariat radio office in central Kabul.

Kabul residents confirmed there had been deaths.

"I was wounded in Karte Nau" to the east of the city, said one Taliban fighter nursing injuries to his hands and leg. "It was a military position and I lost four of my friends."

Bush said operation "Enduring Freedom" was initially designed to "disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime and its ruler, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"Initially the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves and other entrenched hiding places. Our military action is ... to drive them out and bring them to justice," Bush said.

In a stick-and-carrot strategy, U.S. planes later dropped leaflets calling on the Taliban to end their resistance as well as food supplies to the 24-million population.

Witnesses told Reuters the first planes roared over Kabul, at around 9:20 p.m. (12:20 p.m. EDT, 1620 GMT) on Sunday, soon after a nightly curfew took effect, and lit up the night sky with the flash of exploding bombs and missiles.

Two more waves followed as the world's most modern military launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, high altitude bombers and submarine-launched missiles against one of the world's least developed countries.

One big blast struck near the Defense Ministry, south of the presidential palace. Electricity to the city was cut and the only radio station went off the air.

Raids were also carried out on Kandahar, stronghold of the Taliban, and on the eastern city of Jalalabad.

At a Pentagon briefing, officials said 15 bombers, 25 strike aircraft and 50 cruise missiles took part in the first wave of attacks, including B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers. British submarines launched cruise missiles.

[Remainder is rehash.]

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001

Monday October 8, 1:31 PM

Two killed and four injured in Kandahar raids

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Two people were killed and at least four others injured in three separate air raids on the Taliban's southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar on Sunday night, Taliban officials said.

"The attacks were on the airport. We don't know the extent of the damage, but otherwise the situation is normal," an official at the office of the Taliban's spokesman in the southern stronghold of Kandahar told Reuters on Monday.

He said at least two people were known to have been killed and four injured.

Although Kabul is Afghanistan's capital, Kandahar is the headquarters of the Taliban and their spiritiual leader, Mullah Omar Mohammad.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001