BRITAIN SAYS NINE AL QA’EDA BASES DESTROYED
LONDON-ISLAMABAD 23 Oct. (IPS) Britain says the US-led air attacks on Afghanistan have resulted in the destruction of all nine training camps of Osama Ben Laden's al-Qa’eda terror network.
"I can now tell you that we have successfully put all these camps out of action", Britain’s Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told a news conference in London Tuesday.
Mr Hoon said that an additional nine airfields had been attacked and were
mostly put out of action, and 24 military garrisons had also been hit hard.
After a daylong respite for Kabul itself, American bombing resumed on Tuesday, with residents reporting raids throughout the day.
Taleban anti-aircraft guns opened fire at mid-morning as warplanes passed overhead again, possibly heading for further bomb runs at the front lines.
The last time Kabul was hit, the Taleban artillery was silent, leading to speculation about the extent of damage to their air defences.
Sixteen days into the US bombardment, the anti-Taleban opposition in Afghanistan says it has launched a new offensive on the northern city of Mazar Sharif.
Northern Alliance warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum said his forces were locked in fierce battles with the Taleban near Mazar-e-Sharif - which was once his stronghold and which he is eager to recapture.
Another key alliance commander, Mohammed Atta, said his men had launched a joint ground and air attack overnight on Keshendeh, 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Mazar.
The Taleban has fired two rockets at Charikar, the Alliance-held town nearest to the Kabul front line, which fell into crowded streets in the city centre and killed several people. A BBC cameraman saw the second rocket hit a market stall, throwing an old man into the air with the force of the blast.
At least three people are reported to have died when US jets bombed a convoy of fuel tanker trucks bringing fuel to the southern city of Kandahar.
The Taleban Information Ministry also said a US bomb fell on a mosque in the western city of Herat, killing 15 people praying inside.
The American Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said the US attacks on Taleban front lines in support of the opposition are a "logical progression" of the American-led military campaign.
Mr Rumsfeld confirmed that US warplanes had begun bombing Taleban troops north of Kabul and near Mazar-e-Sharif on Sunday.
"Our efforts from the air clearly are to assist those forces on the ground in being able to occupy more ground," he said.
The US campaign against the Taleban began after they refused to hand over Ben Laden and key members of his al-Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the 11 September terror attacks on New York and Washington.
On Monday, Mr Rumsfeld also said the US was working with both the Northern Alliance and tribes in southern Afghanistan to strengthen opposition to the Taleban.
The US has urged the Northern Alliance to occupy more ground before the onset of winter.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week that Washington wanted the Northern Alliance to take Mazar Sharif, whose large airport could be used as a base for operations by US forces.
As US aircrafts were pounding Taleban’s positions, Pakistani police wielding batons have beaten back protesters demonstrating against the US-led strikes in the southern city of Jacobabad, a BBC correspondent reported.
At least a dozen people were injured in the clashes close to the Shahbaz airbase, which several militant Islamic groups claim is being used as a launch pad for the campaign against neighbouring Afghanistan.
The protesters had managed to evade the tight security that has been set up in and around the city ahead of a planned rally at the airbase, called by the country's largest Islamic party - Jamaat-e-Islami.
Pakistani authorities have blocked off roads into the city, and had arrested hundreds of alleged militants ahead of Tuesday's protest in the hope of staving off a major demonstration.
The head of Jamaat-e-Islami had also been prevented from travelling to Jacobabad.
Pakistani President Parvez Mosharraf has come down hard on those opposed to his co-operation with the US, although he has now made clear he wants the US campaign over before Ramadan begins next month.
Islamic leaders around the world have expressed concern that if the US strikes continue into this Muslim holy festival, which starts in mid-November, there could be major unrest.
The protesters have threatened to lay siege to the base, which the US and Pakistan insist is being used only for US search-and-rescue missions - not to launch attacks.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, was handed a travel ban when he arrived at Lahore airport for a flight to Jacobabad on Monday.
The party leader said he would challenge the travel ban in court, and issued General Mosharraf with a warning.
"The days of this government are numbered, and Mosharraf will no longer be in power after a few days," Mr Ahmed said. ENDS AFQANESTAN DESTRUCTIONS 231001