Saturday, 13 October, 2001, 16:23 GMT 17:23 UK

US admits bomb 'went astray' Witnesses said at least one civilian was killed

A bomb dropped by a US warplane may have missed a Taleban military target at Kabul airport and instead fallen on a residential neighbourhood, US defence officials have admitted.

"We are checking on this," one official was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency. "But a large bomb apparently went astray and hit perhaps a mile (1.6km) from its target."

Earlier, witnesses told the BBC by telephone that at least one civilian had been killed and three others injured when US bombs hit houses near the airport.

US warplanes have been carrying out air strikes against Afghanistan since last Sunday, and are now meeting little resistance from Taleban fighters.

The Kabul correspondent of the Arabic satellite TV station al-Jazeera said warplanes could be heard over Kabul on Saturday night, but that air defence activity was relatively quiet compared to previous raids.

Al-Jazeera said it would show "dramatic" footage of damage inflicted on villages that had been targeted during previous raids.

The Taleban say at least 300 civilians have been killed in the strikes - but there is no independent confirmation of the claim.

In other developments

The Taleban's stronghold Kandahar comes under intensive missile attack US President George W Bush, in his weekly radio address, declares the first phase of the military campaign a success, saying it has disrupted Osama Bin Laden's support networks US Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledges a possible link between cases of anthrax infection in Florida and New York and al-Qaeda Two German tourists are beaten in Lombok, Indonesia in the first anti-Western violence there since US began air strikes The US Senate and House of Representatives pass separate bills on fighting terrorism.

Counter-offensive ability

The opposition Northern Alliance say the US strikes have destroyed the Taleban's ability to attack.

"They have lost their capacity to launch counter-offensives", said the Alliance's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah.

But witnesses quoted by Reuters said anti-aircraft gunners did open fire on a warplane over the Kabul.

"There is one plane and they are shooting at it," the witness said. "I have not heard any explosions or bombs yet."

The US is bombing Afghanistan with the aim of flushing out Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant, and his al-Qaeda network, which it blames for organising the suicide plane hijacks in the US on 11 September.

But since the air strikes began, Muslim support for the US-anti terror campaign has weakened in some quarters, while angry protests have erupted in Pakistan, Indonesia and the Palestinian territories.

Eyewitnesses in Kabul reported at least four explosions in two separate raids earlier on Saturday, with at least one bomb hitting the airport.

"From my house I could see a bomb land on the airport. I saw a fireball, debris flying up into the sky," a Kabul resident said.

Residents of the village of Qalai Wakil near the airport told the BBC by telephone that one person had died and three others were injured after raids on Saturday, and that a number of houses had been destroyed.

Click here for a map of recent air strikes

"We didn't think they would target civilians. They said they would target military positions and not civilian houses," a Qalai Wakil resident said, quoted by the AFP news agency.

The Taleban say more than 200 people were killed in the village of Kadam, about 125 kilometres (80 miles) east of Kabul.

But only five deaths have been independently confirmed so far.

The Taleban have rejected a "last chance" to surrender Bin Laden that was offered by US President George W Bush at a White House news conference on Thursday.

"We once again want to say that their intention is a war against Muslims and Afghans," Taleban Information Minister Mullah Qudratullah Jamal said.

"Our jihad [holy struggle]... will continue until the last breath for the defence of our homeland and Islam," he said.

Residents of Kandahar reported two or three big explosions at a Taleban military camp in the town on Saturday, while a Taleban official said the bombardment had been directed at the airport.

"I personally counted seven to eight cruise missile explosions and the planes were circling around Kandahar," Culture Ministry official Mohammed Hamid told AFP.

The resumption of the raids, which involved US and British forces, came after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined to say whether the campaign would be suspended for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2001