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U.S. Resumes Bombing of Afghan Capital After Respite
KABUL, Oct 13 (News Agencies) - The United States resumed its bombing of the battered Afghan capital early Saturday after a brief respite during the Muslim holy day, then warned "boots on the ground" could follow inside Afghanistan.
Residents reported hearing four explosions in Kabul around 3:00 am (2230 GMT Friday) as jets roared overhead and Taliban anti-aircraft batteries went into operation.
"We heard two very large explosions," said a resident in the city's northern flank.
"Taliban gunners opened anti-aircraft fire. The explosions appear very close."
About 40 minutes later the U.S.-led forces mounted another raid with the resident saying two more explosions could be heard further away from the city.
In London, a British defense ministry spokesman confirmed the U.S.-led coalition had launched a fresh wave of military operations in Afghanistan.
"I can confirm there is coalition activity. British forces are involved in a support role," the spokesman said.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney then alluded for the first time to the possible use of ground troops in the campaign against the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, the U.S.'s prime suspect in the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Talking broadly about the nation's military options, Cheney said part of the operation could involve "boots on the ground".
"I mean, you know you're going to have an intelligence piece of it; you know you're going to have a military piece that's probably going to involve air, maybe some special ops, so-called boots on the ground, et cetera," Cheney told public television's "News Hour with Jim Lehrer."
U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier said it was time for the Afghan forces opposed to the Taliban to move against the regime in the areas that had been bombed, but clarified he was not speaking of U.S. ground troops.
"We feel we have done a certain amount with respect to those Taliban and al-Qaeda military targets and it may very well be more appropriate for ground forces to be moving in areas where we previously have been bombing," Rumsfeld told reporters in Washington.
"There are a variety of forces on the ground that oppose al-Qaeda and oppose the Taliban."
The early-morning explosions in Kabul on Saturday appeared to mark the beginning of a seventh day of strikes against the Taliban.
There were no daytime attacks on Kabul Friday after intense bombings the previous night.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers earlier said in Washington that although "military operations continue ... we are not doing any pre-planned operations today, as Friday is the Muslim holy day."
Officials of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said bombing raids on Thursday night, which did not continue into the daylight hours, had added to the toll of more than 300 civilians it says have been killed since the bombing began on Sunday.
But there was no response from Taliban leaders to U.S. President George W. Bush's offer of a "second chance" to hand over bin Laden and have the military campaign halted.
At Friday prayers across the impoverished country, Muslim clerics issued fatwas, or religious edicts, requiring their followers to wage
jihad, or holy war, against the United States.
"Now it's proved that [U.S. President George W. Bush] is the biggest terrorist in the world and it's our duty to give him a lesson as we have to the British and the Soviets," one cleric told a congregation in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
"Jihad is compulsory for every Muslim and those taking sides with the American attacks should be killed."
Meanwhile, the opposition forces said they were close to taking the key provincial capitals of Bamiyan and Aibak, which would help open the route from their northern command bases to Kabul.
A U.S. defense official also said the U.S. military believed it was "highly possible" that some Taliban forces had defected to anti-Taliban Tajik forces in the north near the town of Kunduz.
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