Posted on: Saturday, October 13, 2001
The September 11th attack
Warplanes pound Kabul neighborhood
By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — Warplanes took to the skies early today after a daylong lull, pounding areas around Kabul and Kandahar in a seventh straight day of air strikes. People living near the scene of the Kabul strikes said at least one civilian was killed and four hurt.
The morning attacks followed a hiatus in the U.S.-led campaign against the ruling Taliban militia yesterday, the Muslim holy day. The air assault was launched Sunday after weeks of fruitless efforts by the United States to get the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.
A pre-dawn sortie hit the area around Kabul's airport, and people living in a nearby neighborhood said one person was killed and four wounded. Four destroyed houses could be seen.
"We have no way to rebuild our homes," said Mohammed Shoaib, whose house was one of those wrecked. "What will we do?"
The southern city of Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taliban, was targeted in a midmorning strike. In Kabul, Taliban Information Minister Kudarat Ullah Jamal said the city's airport was hit.
He said several houses were destroyed and "a lot of people" killed. The claim could not be independently verified.
In neighboring Pakistan, a new confrontation was simmering between the government and anti-U.S., pro-Taliban demonstrators.
A radical Islamic leader, Abdullah Shah Mazar, was detained today by authorities in the port city of Karachi, and hundreds of his followers staged a sit-down strike in protest.
Yesterday, thousands of demonstrators clashed with police in Karachi, hurling stones and setting a fast-food restaurant ablaze. Police fired tear gas in response.
Meanwhile, the Taliban report that 200 villagers were killed in a missile strike this week was challenged by U.S. allies. British officials dismissed Taliban claims of mass civilian deaths as propaganda.
Independent verification of reports from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is almost impossible. Foreign journalists are barred and Afghan journalists are not allowed to move about and report freely.
Reports of civilian deaths caused unease for Pakistan, already facing an angry backlash from militant Islamic groups over its support for the United States against bin Laden and the Taliban.
"We have been assured again and again that only terrorists and those who provide protection to terrorists will be targeted," Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammed Khan told journalists yesterday.
The British undersecretary of defense, Lewis Moonie, suggested Friday there could be a slowdown in bombing for the next several days because of the Muslim festival commemorating the mystical journey of the Prophet Mohammad to heaven.
"I would not be surprised if activity was much less over this weekend," he said in London yesterday.
Commemorations vary among Muslim countries, with some celebrating the holiday yesterday or today and others not until Monday. It is observed Monday in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Also today, the Taliban dismissed persistent reports of mass defections of its fighters to the opposition alliance in Afghanistan's north.
"These reports are baseless — there are no defections among the Taliban," said Jamal, the Taliban information minister. "We are united and ready to fight against opposition and American troops. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the cause of Islam."
