BBC Saturday, 27 October, 2001, 16:42 GMT 17:42 UK

US jets pound Taleban troops Red Cross warehouses were mistakenly hit on Friday

US warplanes have attacked Taleban positions north of Kabul after a night of air raids in which the Afghan capital came under one of the most sustained bombardments of the campaign.

Among their latest raids, the Americans are reported to have targeted Taleban tanks and anti-aircraft positions on a hill that overlooks Bagram airport, a crucial opposition Northern Alliance front line position.

Click here for map of reported air strikes

Unhindered control of this airport would potentially make a significant difference to resupplying the forward Northern Alliance troops, particularly as winter closes in.

The daylight raids followed an 11-hour overnight assault on Kabul, when residents reported wave after wave of aircraft and explosions lighting up the night sky. The cities of Kandahar and Herat were also reportedly struck.

A BBC correspondent in Afghanistan said the intensity of the attacks could have been a response to the Taleban regime's execution on Friday of a prominent opposition leader, Abdul Haq.

Haq was captured after crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan to try to gather support among the country's majority Pashtuns for an anti-Taleban alliance.

The Afghan Islamic Press news agency reported that his body had been taken to Kabul, where relatives would collect it for burial in Peshawar in Pakistan on Sunday.

In other developments:

Pakistani border guards halt a convoy of thousands of armed Pakistani tribesmen who want to help the Taleban fight back against the US The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says he believes Pakistan is ready to ease the border closure preventing thousands of Afghan refugees from entering the country Traces of anthrax are found in the offices of three more US congressmen in Washington UK Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce says the war on terror may last half a century The Taleban say Michel Peyrard, a French journalist they detained earlier this month, will be put on trial in a few days time

A Taleban spokesman in Kabul has told the BBC Pashtu service that about 10 days ago, Taleban forces captured and executed five Northern Alliance commanders near Balkh in northern Afghanistan.

He said many other opposition soldiers were also captured, and were being held pending investigations.

Criticism of US tactics

Meanwhile, Northern Alliance leader Abdullah Abdullah has made his strongest criticism to date of US military tactics.

He said the US air strikes would have been more effective if there had been better co-ordination with the opposition forces on the ground.

The Taleban "have been hit badly, but they could have been hit 10 times harder had there been different tactics", he said.

But he also expressed confidence that Osama Bin Laden, the Islamic militant being sheltered by the Taleban who is suspected of masterminding the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington, would be captured.

Red Cross error

The Pentagon says the US is following a war strategy that does not always coincide with the objectives of the Northern Alliance.

"We're not going to adapt our game plan to theirs, necessarily, nor would we expect them to adapt to ours," said Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem.

The Pentagon has admitted that US Navy fighters and B-52 bombers mistakenly bombed warehouses used by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday.

The ICRC said that the warehouses contained food, blankets and other material that was to be distributed to thousands of disabled and needy people in the city.

An ICRC representative told the BBC that all Red Cross installations were clearly marked and all parties in the conflict had been told their locations.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2001