Assault on Afghan capital?

Associated Press

KORAK DANA, Afghanistan – Taliban gunners fired missiles Wednesday at U.S. jets pounding the front line north of Kabul, the heaviest onslaught in four days of attacks there. Northern Alliance commanders said they were bringing up fresh troops for a possible assault on the capital.

An American airstrike in Kabul, meanwhile, reportedly killed 22 Pakistani militants linked to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. It was the highest reported death toll suffered by bin Laden’s allies since the air assault began Oct. 7.

In neighboring Pakistan, border guards reported five powerful explosions Wednesday near a region in Afghanistan’s Paktia province where bin Laden is thought to run a tunnel complex. The concussions near the Gor Way Tangi area were so powerful that Pakistani officials said they believed 5,000-pound bombs were being used to collapse mountainsides and close tunnel entrances.

Pakistani authorities said Wednesday that six Muslims from Somalia and Sudan – countries where bin Laden recruits fighters – were arrested leaving Afghanistan last weekend. An inquiry was under way to determine whether they were members of bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network trying to flee American attacks.

Amid the roar of jets and the crackle of gunfire north of Kabul, opposition commander Haji Bari said the Northern Alliance was bringing in thousands of new troops and weapons in anticipation of a green light from alliance leaders to march on the capital.

“We’re waiting for the order,” said Bari, deputy brigade commander in the Rabat district.

So far, U.S. strikes north of the capital have not brought an opposition advance. The Northern Alliance is also fighting to dislodge the Taliban from Mazar-e-Sharif, a key northern city.

The opposition claimed to have killed 35 Taliban fighters and captured 140 others – including Arabs and Chechens – in a battle Wednesday near the town of Kashendeh, about 60 miles south of Mazar-e-Sharif. The report could not be independently confirmed.

For the fourth straight day, U.S. jets streaked across the skies near the village of Korak Dana about 30 miles north of Kabul, pounding Taliban positions with bombs and missiles.

Taliban fighters unleashed several surface-to-air missiles, which failed to bring down the planes. They also bombarded Northern Alliance positions with artillery and mortar fire.