Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 12:39 GMT

Taleban say 1,500 killed in raids The number of civilian casualties is in dispute

The Taleban ambassador to Pakistan says 1,500 people have been killed in the US raids on Afghanistan since they started 25 days ago.

There is no independent confirmation of this figure, but the bombing campaign has been widely condemned in the Muslim world.

The United States, while admitting there have been civilian casualties, says the figures issued by the Taleban are exaggerated.

The ambassador's claim came after American jets launched one of the heaviest raids yet on the Taleban's southern stronghold of Kandahar.

US bombers could be heard flying at high altitudes for several hours of the night.

The BBC's Simon Ingram, who is among a handful of western journalists allowed into Taleban-controlled Afghanistan for the first time since the US bombing began, said he heard a powerful explosion at about 0520 local time, which shook the windows of his guest house.

Witnesses say aircraft also pounded positions held by the Afghan regime just north of Kabul, sending a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the air.

For the first time in the campaign, a B-52 bomber was used.

Ground troops

Ending weeks of speculation, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed on Tuesday that a "modest number" of allied ground troops are inside Afghanistan.

He said the troops, which are thought to number less than 100, were there to liaise with opposition groups, to co-ordinate the delivery of supplies, and to help US planes find their targets.

: Detailed map

Click here for a detailed map of the strikes so far

BBC World Affairs correspondent Nick Childs says their deployment seems to mark a shift in US tactics - to provide more direct support for the Northern Alliance.

Mr Rumsfeld said that, of the latest wave of attacks, 80% had been directed at Taleban front-line forces.

And Turkey says it is sending between 40 and 50 military instructors to help the Northern Alliance at the request of the Americans.

Our correspondent says the timing of the announcement about the presence of US ground troops seems designed to disarm critics of the campaign. The Northern Alliance offers the best hope of tangible military progress.

Western queasiness

As Western doubts have started mounting about the campaign, the Taleban has chosen to show foreign journalists scenes of civilian casualties in Kandahar.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior US officials have been trying to rally public opinion.

Mr Blair said there was a "flood of evidence" confirming the guilt of Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden, who has been living under the protection of the Taleban.

He insisted that the US-led response to the 11 September terror attacks was just and the UK must "stay the course".

As the US military bombarded Kandahar, music could be heard in the city for the first time in years as the US hijacked radio frequencies.

Kandahar targets

The US appears to be trying to focus on Taleban military positions and Bin Laden's suspected underground complexes of tunnels and caves.

But a medical facility belonging to the Red Crescent society in Kandahar was reported to have been hit, killing at least 11 people, including patients and staff at the facility.

In a separate report, the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera reported that Kandahar's hospital had been struck, broadcasting pictures of a bomb crater and injured patients.

It was not clear whether both reports referred to the same building.

Scavenging for food

Our correspondent in Kandahar said journalists were also shown a row of shops that had been hit, which were adjacent to a Taleban ministry.

He says the city is in virtual darkness, as repeated US air strikes have cut off electricity supplies.

Residents have said sanitary conditions in Kandahar are appalling, and people have been forced to scavenge for food.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001