Thousands of tribesmen head to war, US bombs hit opposition-held village
ISLAMABAD, Oct 27 (AFP) -
The heaviest US assault to date on Taliban targets near the Afghan capital Kabul went wrong Saturday when a stray bomb hit a village in opposition-held territory and killed at least 10, as thousands of armed tribesmen headed to support the Afghan regime.
As the Pashtun tribesmen headed toward Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, Islamabad feared an exodus of refugees heading into the country to flee the US-led bombing campaign.
US warplanes on Saturday conducted their heaviest assault on Kabul since the October 7 start of the campaign against the Taliban, whom Washington accuses of protecting terrorists.
But an errant bomb slammed into the village of Khan Agaha, just three kilometers (two miles) from the Taliban front lines, and ambulance workers said at least 10 people had been killed and another six injured.
The military activity took on a new urgency after the Taliban's capture and execution of Abdul Haq, a hero of the resistance against the Soviets, who had reportedly been trying to persuade Pashtun tribes to turn against the Taliban.
News that Pashtun tribesmen from neighboring Pakistan were heeding the Taliban's call for jihad (holy war) was another blow to US efforts to track down Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda extremist network, blamed for the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"Led by Soofi Mohammad, head of Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammadi (movement for enforcement of Islamic Sharia law), the tribesmen are close to the Afghan border in Bajaur tribal area," an interior ministry official told AFP in Islamabad.
A spokesman for the movement, contacted at the border area by telephone, said the tribesmen numbered around 10,000.
"We will resist if the authorities try to stop us. The jihad will start here," said Qazi Ihsanullah.
Local authorities said they were unsure how to deal with the armed crowd expected to enter Afghanistan on Sunday.
Police said the tribesmen were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, small machine guns, rocket launchers and locally manufactured shotguns.
As the tribesman headed for Afghanistan, the impact of the killing of resistance hero Abdul Haq was made clear in an interview he granted to Newsweek just days before his death.
He explained to the weekly that he hoped to lure tribesmen and disaffected Taliban commanders into a new government in Kabul.
"We plan to move in with our own commanders, with Taliban commanders, with tribal representatives. We'll just take down the Taliban flag and put up our own flag," he said.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of civilians, fleeing the continuing bombing, sought to get out. The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million Afghans could be driven out by the conflict.
Pakistan has come under pressure to admit the refugees, but fears for its own stability as anger at the US bombing spreads among its own population. Some 50,000 people protested in Karachi Friday in the biggest display of anti-US anger since the strikes began.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf warned that his country would be unable to cope with the rising tide of refugees.
"There will be social and economic problems. Do we want another two million refugees?" he said.
In an interview aired on the ABC News network late Friday, Musharraf bemoaned "excessive collateral damage" caused by the US campaign and called for the strikes to end before the Muslim holy period of Ramadan, which will start in mid-November.
The Afghan exodus, reports of significant civilian casualties and bombing mistakes have led to mounting criticism of the US-led air campaign, though the Pentagon has repeatedly dismissed Taliban claims of about 1,000 fatalities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday demanded an explanation after its Kabul food warehouse complex was almost entirely destroyed in two separate strikes in as many weeks.
On Saturday, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker revealed another US bombing blunder, reporting that the organization's mine dog center in Kabul was hit late Thursday.
Two dogs trained to detect land mines were killed in the attack and the compound was damaged, but there were no human casualties.
The Taliban has so far weathered the air strikes without cracking and continues to hold back opposition forces on the front lines north of Kabul, although their positions have taken a battering.
Saturday's blitz on Kabul coincided with bombardment late on Friday and early Saturday of the southern city of Kandahar, the eastern city of Jalalabad, the western city of Herat and front lines in the north.
But the Taliban remained defiant in their refusal to cave in to US demands for the surrender of bin Laden.
"The US jets bombed continuously and the opposition launched a heavy offensive but the morale of our forces is very high because they are fighting for God," said Abdul Hanan Hemat, the head of the Taliban information agency.
Meanwhile, with winter approaching and conditions in war-ravaged Afghanistan deteriorating further, the United Nations said more needed to be done for the six million Afghans dependent on humanitarian aid.
"We need to do much more in terms of getting food and relief items, especially in the north of Afghanistan where the crisis is most serious," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima.
Protests against the military campaign were planned in the United States and around the globe over the weekend.
The air strikes, nonetheless, continued to enjoy strong support in the United States, where a Newsweek poll showed that 88 percent of Americans approve of the action.
But, while 75 percent consider there is a well-thought out plan for using military force to combat terrorism abroad, only 48 percent believe the administration of President George W. Bush has such a plan for fighting bioterrorism and other threats at home.
Three people have died and 11 more have been treated for anthrax infections in the United States after a spate of tainted letters were sent to government offices and media organizations in recent weeks.
Officials said they had no evidence at this stage to link the attacks to bin Laden or the September 11 attacks.
Concern over germ attacks also surfaced in Pakistan, where a doctor said he was treating the first confirmed case of anthrax linked to a germ-laden letter outside the United States. ************************************************* Alternative Press Review - www.altpr.org Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream PO Box 4710 - Arlington, VA 22204
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