Afghan Fighters Close in on Bin Laden, Squabble over Kandahar

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 09, 2001

Afghan Fighters Close in on Bin Laden, Squabble over Kandahar

Afghan fighters hunting for Osama bin Laden clashed with his Arab loyalists in Afghanistan's eastern mountains Saturday, as rival factions struggled to carve their own personal fiefdoms out of the Taliban's fallen stronghold of Kandahar.

Amid the confusion over the fate of Kandahar, the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, appeared to have escaped the city, leaving the US-led forces encircling his last bastion, unsure of his whereabouts.

Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters and US warplanes closing in on bin Laden's supposed lair pounded positions held by his al-Qaeda fighters among the snow-capped peaks of Tora Bora, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Jalalabad.

"We hope, God willing, that we will arrest him very soon. We think that today or the day after today we will martyr them," said Hazrat Ali, a commander of the US-backed Afghan forces fighting their way into the mountains.

Overnight, US fighter bombers pounded positions guarding a large fortified bunker complex thought to be held by al-Qaeda. US and British special forces teams have been seen in the area cooperating with their Afghan allies.

On Saturday, a B-52 strategic bomber was seen unleashing a massive hail of bombs on al-Qaeda positions on Melawa mountain at 12^Detonations could be heard as clashes on the ground broke out and Afghan fighters exchanged mortar fire with al-Qaeda fighters.

Ali and other anti-Taliban commanders have reported that bin Laden, an exiled Saudi Islamic extremist with a 25 million-dollar bounty on his head, has been spotted within the past few days in the Tora Bora region.

"Three days ago, we captured a prisoner from al-Qaeda who told us that Osama was living here but he had moved to the top of the mountain. I think he is probably here," Ali said.

It was not clear who was in control of the Taliban's last bastion, the southern city of Kandahar. Rival anti-Taliban leaders vied for control of the town, which the ousted regime surrendered on Friday.

Forces loyal to Afghan tribal chief Gul Agha, the former governor of Kandahar, said they had taken control of the city and were prepared to fight a rival faction under Mullah Naqibullah for control of it.

But the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press and witnesses fleeing the city said no one faction had complete control.

Gul Agha's spokesman, Jalal Khan, told AFP by telephone that his commander had installed himself in the governor's mansion and had ordered the mullah to pull out or face attack.

"We have sent neutral people to Mullah Naqibullah, who is at the main military headquarters in Kandahar," Khan said. "We need a response (from) him Yes or no. Give up or be ready for fighting."

In the northern Pakistani town of Quetta, Gul Agha's cousin and spokesman said that five of Gul Agha's men had been killed in clashes.

The threat of further inter-Afghan violence took the shine off the defeat of the Taliban's last bastion, which ought to have been the first victory by the new interim regime approved by Afghan factions in talks in Bonn on Wednesday.

Under a deal struck by the new government's prime minister, Hamid Karzai, Kandahar's Taliban defenders were to have surrendered to his US-backed forces, who have vowed to capture Mullah Omar.

Khan said Gul Agha had not captured Omar but claimed the Taliban leader might still be in the city after having been captured by Karzai or Naqibullah.

"Mullah Mohammad Omar is a criminal and the main culprit. Whether he is with Hamid Karzai or Mullah Naqib (Naqibullah), our men are chasing him, and they will track him down along with his close aides," said Khan.

Both the United States and Karzai have said Omar himself should stand trial for supporting bin Laden, who has been blamed for the September 11 attacks on US landmarks that left around 3,500 people dead.

A Taliban official claimed Omar had escaped, however: "I can confirm it to you that he is no longer in Kandahar," said the Pakistan-based official, who asked not to be named.

A spokesman for US Central Command said Washington had no good information on Omar's whereabouts.

"The area is still very confused," Lieutenant Colonel Martin Compton told AFP. "We have seen reports saying he's captured, other reports saying that he has escaped. The indications we have right now don't support any of those."

Meanwhile, US officers said that John Walker Lindh, a 20-year-old American captured fighting with the Taliban, was being held for his own safety at a US Marine base in southern Afghanistan and should soon be transferred to civilian US authorities.

Lindh was handed over to US forces in northern Afghanistan after emerging December 1 from a week of fierce fighting between Taliban prisoners and Northern Alliance forces at a prison fortress near Mazar-i-Sharif. Though some view him as a traitor, no charges have been filed against him.

In Pakistan on Saturday, one of four main groups that helped forge the Bonn accord for an interim Afghan government -- due to be up and running by December 22 -- called on the UN to start a voter registration drive in anticipation of general elections.

The so-called "Peshawar group," headed by Pashtun royalist Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani, also called for help "in the reintegration of the mujahedin into the international community" and urged the creation of a fund to "assist the families and other dependents of martyrs and victims of the war, as well as the war disabled."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, continued his Central Asian tour with a visit to Kazakhstan on Saturday, on the heels of a diplomatic triumph in which he persuaded reluctant Uzbek authorities to open an aid route to Afghanistan.

In Tashkent, Powell said Uzbek President Islam Karimov had agreed to open the so-called Friendship Bridge into northern Afghanistan, where US and French troops are trying to ensure aid deliveries.

"That will ease the humanitarian situation (in Afghanistan) considerably, and we thank the president for that," Powell said.

The bridge is due to reopen Sunday, pending final checks by Uzbek officials.(Agencies)

One of Bin Laden's Sons May Have Been Killed: CNN

Omar Safe, Bin Laden's Whereabouts Unknown