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'Heavy Losses' Reported in Afghan as US Hits Harder
The United States has launched further air strikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, in what witnesses described as the most intense military bombardment since the campaign started on Sunday.
A Taleban official was quoted as saying there had been a "large number of casualties" around the country.
American warplanes are reported to have begun using 5,000lb "bunker busting" bombs, which appears to mark the start of the next phase in the allies' campaign .
This new stage could also involve the use of ground troops and special forces, the BBC Washington correspondent says.
Pakistani officials said American personnel were on the ground in Pakistan.
But they stressed that they were not combat forces and would not use Pakistani territory to launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan is allowing the Americans to use two air bases, but only for logistics and support operations.
A Taleban official said a mosque had been destroyed in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the AFP news agency reported.
Taleban Education Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi said he did not know if people had been killed inside the mosque.
But he was quoted as saying that there had been many casualties in different parts of Afghanistan.
Among them, he said, were 10 members of the same family, killed when a missile hit their house in Kabul.
A US defence official said warplanes had dropped at least one 5,000lb bomb - known as GBU-28s - which are aimed at destroying reinforced or buried command centres.
More Civilians Casualties At least 18 civilians were killed while 30 injured during the latest US air attacks in Kandahar Thursday morning, according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).
Quoting witnesses in the city, the AIP said several US rockets hit Gach Khana and Lowala districts in eastern and northern Kandahar, killing 18 civilians including women and children.
It said the US-led coalition also destroyed a military center in Kandahar during the air attacks Wednesday night.
Earlier, the AIP reported that 10 family members including women and children were killed while a US missile hit a residential area in eastern Kabul Wednesday night.
So far, the death toll of civilians during the US-led military strikes against the Taliban which began on Sunday night could reach more than 100.
According to another report reaching here from Jalalabad, US forces destroyed a mosque in the eastern city and caused a number of casualties.
Planes and cruise missiles pounded Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad for hours from Wednesday night into Thursday morning in the fiercest bombardment since US-led attacks in Afghanistan, the reports said.
Anti-aircraft fire lit up the sky over Kabul and jets screamed over the city as bombs and missiles struck at targets around the city, including the airport and the vicinity of a central residential area, it was reported.
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