Jets Strike Kabul on Day of Prayer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. jets struck the Afghan capital Friday on the Muslim day of prayer, rocking the city with huge explosions and reportedly blasting a Red Cross compound for a second time this month. Three children were killed in overnight attacks on the city, hospital officials said.
Taliban forces claimed to have captured a noted opposition figure during the overnight U.S. air attacks around Kabul. Abdul Haq, who had been trying in exile to build a coalition to succeed the Taliban, was arrested Friday after slipping back into Afghanistan, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported.
Despite days of U.S. bombing aimed at crucial supply lines north of the capital, Taliban forces appeared to hold their ground.
After another night of sometimes intense bombing, three huge detonations shook Kabul at midday, raising clouds of smoke from the direction of the airport and the Khair Khana district to the north. It was unclear where the third explosion occurred.
One of the blasts struck a compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to security guard Abdul Shakour. He said warehouses used to store humanitarian supplies were damaged and stocks of rice, beans, blankets and oil were on fire. The compound was hit during an attack Oct. 16.
During late night bombing Thursday, three children were killed - two from one family living in the northwest area of the city and a third from the east part of town, officials at the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital said.
The United States has repeatedly said it was not targeting civilians, although it regretted the loss of life.
President Bush launched the airstrikes Oct. 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September terrorist attacks in the United States.
During a sermon at a Kabul mosque Friday, an Islamic cleric said the ``infidel hit our nation, even on Friday. They are very unkind to our people.'' He urged the faithful to be patient because ``we will win.''
Taliban forces, meanwhile, told the Afghan Islamic Press they had captured Haq and a companion about 20 miles south of Kabul. Haq, a guerrilla leader in the war against the Soviets, slipped into Afghanistan with peace proposals on behalf of former king Mohammad Zaher Shah, an aide to the former monarch told CNN from Rome.
In other attacks-related developments:
- Britain announced Friday it will commit 200 special forces troops to the offensive in Afghanistan as part of a larger military force to include warships and planes. They are to be stationed on assault ships in the region, and another 400 are to be on standby, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told Parliament.
-Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Jones said the Marines' top special operations unit is ready to deploy to Afghanistan on six hours' notice. He spoke aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea.
-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was leading a worldwide public relations campaign designed to convinced hundreds of thousands of skeptical Muslims that the U.S. campaign to eliminate the al-Qaida terrorism network is not a conflict with Islam.
-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft warned terrorists that authorities will use every law and immigration violation to put them behind bars and to intercept their communications, even their unopened electronic and voice mail.
The front line north of Kabul was generally quiet early Friday, although high-flying military aircraft, visible only by their jet trails, could be seen heading toward the north.
Despite five days of U.S. bombardment, the Taliban appeared to have remained in their positions which threaten the opposition-held Bagram airport. That prevents the opposition from using the airfield as a supply hub for bolstering their forces in case they try to move on Kabul.
In Moscow, the alliance envoy to Russia, Abdul Wahad Assefi, told reporters Russian military supplies have begun flowing to the opposition, but he refused to give further details.
Opposition fighters have complained that the U.S. raids - usually carried out by only one or two aircraft at a time - were too weak to dislodge the Taliban.
Nevertheless, there was no exchange of fire Friday morning between Taliban and northern alliance fighters on the front line. Northern alliance fighters interpreted that as a sign that the Taliban forces in the area are being hit hard by U.S. strikes - and they called for more supplies, especially ammunition.
``If we get the support we need, we could finish off the Taliban in three hours of fighting,'' said 33-year-old fighter Shirin Agha, resting with his comrades on pillows and carpets in a two-story mud house in the village of Jamal Agha, where his contingent is based. ``We could get the upper hand and the Taliban would be weakened.''
Poorly armed and poorly trained, Afghanistan's opposition is racing to bring in fresh ammunition and fighters before snow in the Hindu Kush mountains closes the only supply route to front lines north of the capital.
Intensifying U.S. bombing north of Kabul and outside the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif is aimed largely at opening the way for supplies and for what the United States hopes will be major opposition offensives before winter.
Originally published October 26, 2001.
