Thursday, 11 October, 2001, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK

Taleban accuse US of targeting civilians The US says it now has air superiority

The Taleban have accused the United States of targeting civilians, saying more than 100 people have been killed in the biggest attack on Afghanistan so far.

The claim was impossible to verify as foreign journalists are barred from entering Taleban-controlled territory.

US warplanes were reported to have dropped powerful "bunker-busting" bombs designed to penetrate underground positions.

Taleban officials said 115 people were killed around the north-eastern city of Jalalabad, 15 of them when a missile struck a mosque.

In other developments:

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Egypt on the latest stage of his Middle East tour for talks with President Mubarak US President George W Bush offers rewards of up to $5 million for 22 suspects he names as "the most dangerous terrorists in the world" US television executives agree to "exercise judgement" in broadcasting statements by Bin Laden and his associates after the US Government warned that they may include coded incitements to violence Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar urges Muslims around the world to support the fight against the United States The US State Department tells US embassies to stock up on antibiotics in case of anthrax attacks Muslim leaders warn the US-led alliance not to extend the anti-terrorism strikes to other Muslim or Arab countries French journalist Michel Peyrard and his two Pakistani guides are charged by the Taleban with spying Pakistan warns it will deport Afghan refugees involved in violent pro-Taleban demonstrations A Canadian is shot dead in Kuwait by a man who reportedly shouted "Allah-o-Akhbar" [God is great]

Witnesses described the air raids on the capital Kabul as the most intense military bombardment since the campaign started on Sunday.

A Taleban official said 10 members of the same family had died when a missile struck their home. That claim was also unconfirmed.

Ground forces

Deafening explosions shook Kabul as jets screamed overhead and anti-aircraft fire blazed from Taleban guns.

American planes are reported to have used 5,000lb laser-guided "bunker busting" bombs, which could mark the start of the next phase in the allies' campaign.

This new stage could involve the use of ground troops and special forces, the BBC Washington correspondent says.

Pakistani officials said American personnel were on the ground in Pakistan.

But they stressed that they were not combat forces and would not use Pakistani territory to launch attacks inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan is allowing the Americans to use two air bases, but only for logistics and support operations.

The Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said the real war would start when ground troops went into Afghanistan.

He said that Osama Bin Laden, blamed by Washington for the 11 September attacks on the United States, would not be allowed to launch any military action from Afghanistan.

'Populated areas bombed'

The southern city of Kandahar, where the Taleban headquarters is located, was also battered by bombs and missiles.

A news agency with close links to the Taleban, the Afghan Islamic Press, said 15 people were killed.

Refugees from Kandahar arriving at the Pakistani border were also quoted as saying civilians had been killed and some bombs had fallen on populated areas.

Several Taleban leaders died on the first night of US and British attacks, a senior US official was quoted as saying.

Two men related to Taleban leader Mullah Omar were among those killed, the official said.

"This is the worst night that we have had so far ... I cannot tell you how frightened people are," one Kabul resident said.

The anti-Taleban Northern Alliance claimed that its forces had advanced in the central province of Ghor, capturing an air base and the town of Cheghcheran.

But the Taleban said they had repelled an assault in the area. Neither claim could be verified.

The US-led military campaign is aimed at neutralising Bin Laden - accused of organising the 11 September attacks on the US - and the Taleban, who are sheltering him.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001

Answers

The above is a BBC report. The following is from CNN.

Retaliation intensifies in Afghanistan

Civilians reported fleeing as explosions rock Kandahar

October 11, 2001 Posted: 7:44 a.m. EDT (1144 GMT)

(CNN) - As the United States marked the one-month anniversary of terrorist attacks, the U.S.-led retaliation grew more intense Thursday, with cities in Afghanistan under a blistering air assault.

Sources told CNN hundreds of civilians were fleeing the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, after the city was shaken by more than 30 explosions in a two-hour period Wednesday night. Military fuel depots, barracks, and heavy armor were targeted.

A mostly vacated military camp was hit, setting off s econdary explosions from ammunition stockpiles. It is believed those blasts sent ammunition flying into nearby areas of Kandahar, including a refugee camp.

The Afghan capital of Kabul was hit as bombing runs stretched into Thursday morning.

There was no immediate word on casualties, but Taliban officials claimed more than 100 people had been killed in the latest airstrikes, which they said hit civilian areas in Jalalabad, Kabul and Kandahar. Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef said the Pentagon is "lying to the world" when it says it is not "targeting civilians."

Meanwhile, memorial services will be held Thursday in New York and Washington, one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will join rescue workers and clergy for a service at Ground Zero in New York. President Bush is scheduled to speak at the Pentagon.

Latest developments

• Indonesia weathered a fourth consecutive day of anti-American protests Thursday as police braced for even larger demonstrations expected to follow Friday prayers. Across Indonesia radical Islamic groups areactively recruiting the student movement to join in demonstrations against the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan. (Full story)

• CNN's Matthew Chance, who is traveling with the opposition Northern Alliance, reports that the alliance claims it has captured the north-central province of Ghowr, which, if true, would disrupt Taliban supply routes. The Taliban denies losing the land.

• Senior Pakistani officials said Thursday a logistical operation was under way at Jacobabad airport in central Pakistan. Responding to media reports of U.S. military moves at the airport, a Pakistani official said: "These are operational areas. Logistical support is being provided to the United States. Any other further comments could jeopardize the tactical planning and secretiveness of what is going on." (Full story)

• Iraq has brushed aside warnings from the United States not to use the current situation to launch attacks. In a return letter, Iraq described the U.S. threats as naive, silly and arrogant. (Full story)

• A U.S. official said Wednesday that the U.S. had received "highly credible" reports that senior Taliban leaders had died in the initial attacks Sunday, including two adult male relatives of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

• Federal authorities launched a criminal investigation Wednesday after a 35-year-old woman tested positive for anthrax exposure -- the third person exposed to the disease who worked at a building in Boca Raton, Florida. One man has died from the disease. Authorities said they know of no link to the September 11 terrorist attacks. (Full story)

• U.S. Capitol Police said Wednesday it would ban all commercial, agricultural and recreational vehicles over 1.25 tons from a 40-city-block area around the Capitol complex in Washington beginning at 5 a.m. Thursday because of concerns about terrorist threats. (Full story)

• After restricting movement of some hazardous material and other sensitive cargo for about three days, the nation's freight railroads have resumed accepting all shipments under heightened security, industry sources told CNN's Jeanne Meserve Wednesday. The shipments were stopped to allow assessment of the level of threat following military strikes in Afghanistan. (Full story)

• The FBI said Wednesday there are "no specific, credible threats" to the nation's drinking water. Ronald Dick, director of the FBI's National Infrustructure Committee, told a House subcommittee hearing that "to contaminate a water supply with a hazardous industrial chemical, it would take truck loads of chemical to have any effect." (Full story)

• The Kuwaiti government Wednesday stripped Suleiman Abu-Gheith of his Kuwaiti citizenship, condemning him as a terrorist after he showed up in two videotapes as the spokesman of the al Qaeda network. Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah, Kuwait's acting prime minister, said Abu-Gheith was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

• Workers in a U.N.-sponsored effort to clear land mines are being assaulted by the Taliban in Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad, according to a U.N. spokeswoman in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Taliban also are taking the workers' vehicles, she said. (Full story)

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a three-day trip to the Middle East, stopped in Oman Wednesday where he briefed Omani leader Sultan Qaboos and reviewed a British force of more than 20,000 servicemen and women conducting a military exercise in the Persian Gulf country. After the meeting with Qaboos, Blair told a news conference that any country found to be fomenting terror could be targeted in the U.S.-British campaign.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001