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Low-flying US aircraft target Afghanistan; 2,000 troops in Pak

More than 2,000 US troops landed at three Pakistani airbases as the American forces used low-flying aircraft and choppers for the first time to target terrorist bases in Afghanistan on Sunday amidst reports that US President George W Bush has authorised the CIA to use lethal force to eliminate Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network.

As the US air campaign in Afghanistan entered the third week, the Taleban cabinet met at an unknown location and decided to deploy more ground troops, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns to confront US commandoes.

The meeting, chaired by Taleban second-in-command Mullah Hassan, also decided to send extra ammunition to villages and districts under the militia control, Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoting Taleban Education Minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi reported.

The militia also claimed to have hit the US helicopter, which crashed in Pakistan on Saturday, and killing 20 to 25 American soldiers.

In Pakistan, over 2,000 US troops along with a large number of planes and helicopters descended over the three airbases provided by Pakistan making it the biggest ever presence of American forces in the country's history, The News daily reported.

The fresh deployment of US troops and warplanes came as low-flying US jets dropped at least four bombs on Kabul, a day after elite fighters clashed with Taleban fighters on the ground in Kandahar.

The Pakistani daily said that US troops and the fleet landed at the airports of Jacobabad, Pasni and Dalbandin, which have been under tight security.

While the first two airports would act as logistical bases, the Dalbandin airbase on the Afghan border has been selected as forward operational base, it said.

The US has installed extensive radar facilities at the three airbases and the American troops' activities are being conducted in cooperation with Pakistan air force and civil aviation authorities, the newspaper added.

During the pre and post-dawn raids, the low-flying warplanes and helicopters virtually ruled the skies over Afghanistan as the Taleban produced no response with their anti-aircraft guns remaining silent, apparently suggesting that the militia's ability to respond has been depleted as claimed by the United States.

The Afghan Islamic Press reported that US warplanes attacked Taleban frontline positions in Afghanistan's northern province of Samangan for a second straight day on Sunday.

Taleban claimed at least 18 civilians were killed in Sunday's air attacks on capital Kabul while 50 to 60 others had perished over the last three days in the raids on Herat. They said several others were wounded in the US operations.

In a pre-dawn mission on Saturday, the US began ground operation with over 200 army rangers and other special forces targeting an airbase on the outskirts of Taleban stronghold of Kandahar. The operation was over by daybreak and commandoes safely returned to their bases outside Afghanistan.

However, the Taleban claimed to have prevented US troops from landing in the country but added that they were prepared to confront the American ground forces.

"We are ready any moment to confront them. They were not able to land. If they had landed we would have confronted them," chief of the Taleban's Bakhtar Information Agency Abdul Hanan Hemat said.

Alarmed at the huge inflow of Afghan refugees into their territories, Pakistani authorities meanwhile closed the main border crossing. About 5,000 Afghan people had crossed over to Pakistan on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Taleban publicly hanged five opposition Northern Alliance cadres, including two commanders, in Mazar-e-Sharif after 'arresting' them in the battlefield, a militia official said.

The militia also claimed to have regained control of the central Afghan province of Ghor, which was denied by the Alliance.

In another development, APEC leaders meeting in Shanghai unequivocally condemned the terror strikes against the US as 'murderous deeds' and opposed all forms of terrorism.

"In view of the gravity of the terrorist attack on the US, we went out of our way to discuss the issue of counter-terrorism in the course of our meeting," Chinese president and host Jiang Zemin said reading out a declaration issued at the end of the two-day APEC summit attended by heads of State of 19 other countries, including Bush.

"We condemned in the strongest term the attack as an affront to peace, prosperity and security of all people, of all faiths, of every nation," he said.

PTI

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