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Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat poundedThe attackh sbegunTalibanvow tofight till their last breath; Omar, Osama survive

By Tahir MirzainWashingtonandFaraz Hashm iin IslamabadWASHINGTON/ISLAM-ABAD, Oct 7: The UnitedStates, in concert withBritain, on Sunday nightstruck at what weredescribed as Al Qaedatraining camps andTaliban command andcontrol facilities at sever-al places in Afghanistan,signalling the start of amilitary campaign againstthe Kabul regime andOsama bin Laden expect-ed ever since the Sept 11

attacks in New York andWashington.President George Bushina televized address shortlyafter newsof thestrikeswasannounced described theactionasmarkingthebegin-ning of a sustainedandrelentless operat ion todriveoutterroristsand des-troy Taliban military facili-ties.The Pentagon said airdefences, terrorist trainingcampsandother strategic mili-tary targets l inked to theTaliban werehit.Pentagon offi-cials confirmed thatthestrikesbegan with cruise m issile strikeslaunched fromUS andBritish

shipsin theArabianSea,includ-ingatleastoneBritish subma-rine.USfighter planes fromair-craft carriers were also involved.Defence Secretary Donald

Rumsfeldandchairmanof theJoint Chiefsof Staff, GeneralRichard M yers, tolda briefingon Sunday afternoon tha tavari-etyoflocationsandweaponssys-tems, including at least 50Tomahawk missiles,hadbeenusedandsaidtheoperationwascontinuingat thetimeof thebriefing.They saidno USaircrafthadbeen damagedorlost till lastreports camein.Therewas noconfirmation of reports thatPakistani airspacewasused,butthat would have been unavoid-ableifmissiles were launchedfrom theArabianSea.Threeyearsago, inAugust1998, the

Clinton administrationhadfiredcruise missiles throughPakistani airspacein anabortivestrike meanttokill OsamabinLaden.At least three cities wereaffectedin thestrikes whichtar-geted placesin theneighbour-hoodofKabul, KandaharandJalalabad.ATaliban cen tralcommand base outsideKandahar was saidtohave beendestroyedin thefirst waveofattacks,andpeople fromthecitywere statedto befleeing intothe countryside.Kandaharisalsotheseatofthe Taliban regimeand theplace where the Taliban

supreme leader Mulla Omar sits.Osamawasalso lately describedas living closeto thecity. Somereports suggested that MullaOmar's houseor thecompoundwherehelivesinKandaharwasbombed. Electricity powerplantsandother strategic infra-structure installations were alsosaid to have beenhit in thestrikes.President Bush's speech camefollowing the White House'srejection earlieronSundayofthe Taliban offer to detainOsama and try him underIslamiclaw if the USprovidedevidence against him.Thepresi-dent,who on Saturday had

declared that timehad run outfor the Taliban, saidhe hadgiven notice to the Talibanregimeof theconditions theyhadtomeettoavert actionsurrendering Osamaand hisassociatesandliquidating train-ing campsinAfghanistan buttheyhadrefusedtocomply withthem.President Bush also said thatwhilethefocus todaywas onAfghanistan, the batt le iswider andwouldbewagedagainstanygovernment shelter-ing terrorists.Pakistan Foreign MinisterAbdul Sattar, askedin a CNNinterview moments before newsofthe attacks broke whethermilitary actionwasimminent,had saidthetimingof anysuchmove wasfor the US andBritainto decide.British Prime Minister TonyBlair, speakinginLondonon theoperation, saidthebattle planhad beenputtogetherin a waythatwasdesignedtominimizechancesofcivilian casualties.Pakistanhadmosttofear fromabacklash of domestic publicanger if theUS-UK militaryoffensive tookatollofcivilianlivinginAfghanistan.BothMrBlairand MrBushmade strenuous effortstostressthat the mili tary operation,codenamed Enduring Freedom,wasnotdirected againstthepeo-pl eof Afghanistan and tha tsimultaneous efforts atprovid-ing humanitarian relief wouldcontinue.The attack came midway dur-

ing the long ColumbusDayweekend here, with Mondayalsoaclosed holiday,andtherewasnoimmediate public reac-tion. Military analysts said whileawar inAfghanistan w ouldbesimpler thanthebattlein theGulf, itcould alsobemorecom-plicated.WiththeTaliban officially call-ing Sunday's actiona terroristattack onAfghanistan, extrasafety precautions w ere orderedat airportsandother sensitiveinstallationsto guard againstany possible retaliation. Osamahimself,in aninterview withtheQatariAlJazeera televisionsta-tion shown here on Sundayafternoon, warned of attacksand said these would continuetill therewasjusticefor ourpeopleand for Palestinians .Itwasnotclear whethertheinter-viewwas recorded beforeoraftertheUS-UK operation.

Defence Secretary Rumsfeldsaid Sunday's strikes were partofacontinuing operation thatwould sometimesbevisibleandsometimesnot andwhich wouldencompass political, diplomaticand economic tools besides mili-tary action, which is beingincreasingly seenas apunitivefirst assault designedtopulver-izetheTalibanandforce themtoendbackingAlQaeda.MrRumsfeld also said humanitari-an assistancehadbegunto beair-droppedintandem withthemilitary strikes.

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launched retaliatory strikes by ablitz of Tomahawk cruise missilefired from their ships in ArabianSea, which flew over Pakistaniairspace and landed on targetsin Kandahar, Jalalabad andKabul, a defence source said.There was.no report of, anymissile landing inside Pakistanas had happened last timein 1989 when some of themfired from Arabian Sea hadmissed the target in Kandaharby hundreds of miles and land-ed in Balochistan, the sourcesaid.The source refused to confirmwhether the US and British airforce planes had also usedPakistani airspace in theairstrikes, which followed themissile blitz.It was not known whether the15 bombers and 25 strike air-craft, as reported ^y westernmedia used in the airstrikes,had flown from Uzbekistanor from the aircraft careersstationed in Arabian Sea, hesaid. )Tomahawk is a surface-to-sur-face cruise m issile' hav ing amaximum strike range of 1000kilometres. The US as well asthe British forces are equippedwith this missile, which can alsobe fired from the air.Two huge blasts reportedshock in Kabul had been actual-ly caused by of the Tomahawk

cruise missiles, the source said.According to reports of west-ern media on Sunday night,these missiles were fired fromBritish submarines.Till the filing of this reportlate on Sunday night no officialword had been made availableby the government on thes t r i k e s . u - . . . J ,The questions whether thegovernment had prior informa-tion of these attacks andwhether any Pakistani airbasehad also been used in theairstrikes against Afghanistanhad been used or not remainedunanswered.These questions are likely tobe answered by President GenPervez Musharraf, who has con-vened a press conference onMonday morning.No activity was witnessed atthe Air Force base at Chaklalaand the flight operations wenton as per the normal routine.AFP adds: The Talibantermed attacks againstAfghanistan a terro rist act,the Afghan Islamic Press report-ed.The US attack is a terroristact, ATP quoted Taliban ambas-sador to Pakistan Mulla AbdulSalam Zaeef as saying. This is an attack on an inde-pendent country. We will fightuntil our last breath.America will be responsiblefor the killing of poor people,Mulla Zaeef said.