{"article":{"id":11832,"heading":"Taleban show bomb devastation (BBC)","author":"BBC","created":"2001-10-15 10:49:59","modified":"2005-08-15 00:40:54","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:40:54","article":"

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Taleban show bomb devastation\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \t\r\nHigh Graphics\r\n | BBC Sport>>\r\n
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\t\r\nSunday, 14 October, 2001, 12:08 GMT 13:08 UK <\/b> \t\r\nTaleban show bomb devastation\r\n \t
\r\n \r\n
\r\n
Heavily-armed\r\nTaleban met reporters at the Pakistan border<\/small>
\r\n<\/div>\r\n \t <\/div>\r\n \tAfghanistan's\r\nruling Taleban have taken a group of international journalists to a village\r\nin eastern Afghanistan where they say nearly 200 residents were killed by\r\nUS bombing last week. \r\n

The reporters saw numerous badly\r\ndamaged houses and were met with furious protests by distraught locals, many\r\nof whom said they had lost relatives in the attack. <\/p>\r\n

\t<\/p>\r\n

\t \r\n
We advise Muslims, children\r\nand those who reject unjust US policy not to travel by plane\r\n
\r\n Al-Qaeda spokesman <\/b>
\r\n \t \t\r\n
The organised tour comes after\r\nthe US carried out a seventh straight night of air raids, hitting four Afghan\r\ncities. \r\n

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Osama\r\nBin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, which is blamed by the US for the suicide\r\nattacks on 11 September, has warned US and UK citizens that it will retaliate\r\nfor the raids. <\/p>\r\n

\"We advise Muslims, children\r\nand those who reject unjust US policy not to travel by plane... and not to\r\nlive in high-rise buildings,\" Sulaiman Abu Ghaith said, in a videotaped statement\r\ngiven to the Arabic TV network al-Jazeera. <\/p>\r\n

  UK Prime Minister Tony\r\nBlair said the statement was a clear admission of responsibility for the\r\nattacks. More than 5,000 people were killed when three hijacked airliners\r\nwere deliberately crashed in New York and Washington, and another crashed\r\nin Pennsylvania. <\/p>\r\n

In overnight raids, witnesses\r\nsaid warplanes dropped three bombs on Kabul, rocking the city with huge explosions\r\nand creating a fireball over the airport. <\/p>\r\n

Military positions around the\r\ncity of Jalalabad and a Taleban military camp in Kandahar also came under\r\nattack, and strikes were reported on an airport near the western city of\r\nHerat. <\/p>\r\n

There was sporadic anti-aircraft\r\nfire over Kabul on Sunday morning as single plane circled above the city,\r\nwitnesses said. <\/p>\r\n

In other developments:<\/b>\r\n <\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n \r\n
  • Police in Pakistan fire shots\r\nand teargas to disperse protesters near an air base thought to be in use\r\nby US personnel, killing one protester <\/li>\r\n
  • Air Canada confirms that one\r\nof its airliners that was due to fly from Toronto to New York on 11 September\r\nwas subsequently found to have knives concealed on board <\/li>\r\n
  • Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak\r\napproves a decree to send 80 suspected members of an al-Qaeda cell before\r\na military court<\/li>\r\n
  • Tony Blair -\r\nwho will meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday - says military\r\naction must be balanced with progress in the Middle East negotiations \r\n <\/li>\r\n
  • Crown Prince\r\nMuhammad al-Maktoum of Dubai says westerners are safe in the Gulf and life\r\nis carrying on as normal \r\n <\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n \r\n

    <\/p>\r\n

    <\/p>\r\n

    US military officials have not\r\nconfirmed the attack on Kouram - called Kadam in some reports - which took\r\nplace last Wednesday, although they have admitted a stray bomb killed several\r\nresidents of a suburb of the capital, Kabul, on Friday. <\/p>\r\n

    \t<\/p>\r\n

    \t \r\n
    I lost my four daughters,\r\nmy son and my wife in this attack
    \r\n Kouram resident <\/b>
    \r\n \t \t\r\n
    The bomb was meant to hit\r\na helicopter at Kabul airport, but a wrongly entered digit in its global\r\npositioning system meant it missed its target. \r\n

    Journalists who reached Kouram\r\non Sunday were shown shrapnel and told by villager Gul Mohammed that rescuers\r\nwere still digging for some 200 people feared killed. <\/p>\r\n

    They saw bombed-out houses, the\r\ncarcasses of dozens of dead animals, and villagers weeping over 18 freshly\r\ndug graves. <\/p>\r\n

    \"I lost my four daughters, my\r\nson and my wife in this attack,\" said a grief-stricken villager who was out\r\nof his house when the bombs fell on Wednesday night. <\/p>\r\n

     The BBC's Rahim Ullah\r\nYusuf Zai - who is with the party - says this is the first time such access\r\nhas been given to foreign media by the Taleban and indicates the importance\r\nthey attach to the propaganda war. <\/p>\r\n

    The journalists said that, to\r\nbegin with, angry residents of the village threw stones at them and shouted\r\nat them to leave, and only the armed Taleban escort prevented the foreigners\r\nfrom being attacked. <\/p>\r\n

    The Taleban leadership has rejected\r\na \"last chance\" to surrender Bin Laden that was offered by President Bush\r\nat a White House news conference on Thursday. <\/p>\r\n

    The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic\r\nPress (AIP) reported the reclusive Taleban leader Mullah Omar as saying in\r\na message: \"Our sin is that we have imposed an Islamic system in our country\r\nand have given protection to a homeless Muslim, oppressed, who cannot even\r\nfind a place in any part of the world to sit for an hour.\" <\/p>\r\n

    <\/p>\r\n

    <\/span> \r\n

    \t\tRelated to this story:<\/b>
    \r\n \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tAl-Qaeda threatens US and UK \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(14 Oct 01 | Middle East) \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tUS and Uzbekistan agree pact \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(13 Oct 01 | Asia-Pacific) \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tFear and defiance inside Afghanistan \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(12 Oct 01 | South Asia) \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tWarriors on land and sea \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(14 Oct 01 | From Our Own Correspondent) \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tAnalysis: Washington's next phase \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(11 Oct 01 | Americas) \t\t \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t\tMapping Afghanistan's political future \t\t\t\r\n \t\t\t(11 Oct 01 | South Asia) \t\t \t\t\r\n

    \t \t<\/p>\r\n

    \tInternet links:<\/b> \t \t\t\r\n \t\tUK Ministry of Defence | \t\t\r\n \t \t\t \t\tThe White House\r\n| \t\t\r\n \t \t\t \t\tAfghanistan Online\r\n| \t\t\r\n \t \t\t \t\tUS Department\r\nof Defence | \t\t\r\n \t \t
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