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Taliban Says Two U.S. Helicopters Shot Down,
Pentagon Denies
KABUL, Oct 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Taliban said Monday that the wreckage of two U.S. helicopters was found near its main stronghold, as it deployed fighters across Afghanistan in a bid to counter any new U.S. ground attacks.
The Taliban also said the U.S. planes inflicted "heavy casualties" when they bombed a hospital in the west of the country, as its reclusive leader made a defiant new call for a struggle against U.S. forces, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Taliban Education Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi - the regime's spokesman - told AFP one helicopter crashed, possibly after being shot down Sunday west of Kandahar, near Taliban headquarters.
He said villagers near the crash site, which he could not specify, fired at U.S. helicopters which came to rescue the crew of the downed aircraft, hitting one and forcing them all to withdraw.
A Taliban diplomat said the wreckage of another U.S. army helicopter and traces of blood had been found in the Baba Sahib mountains near Kandahar.
Kandahar was the target of the first U.S. ground raids in Afghanistan, which began last Friday.
The Al-Jazeera Arab television news channel broadcast footage of the U.S. helicopter wreckage.
But, Washington has strongly denied losing any helicopters in Afghanistan, although it has admitted that one crashed inside Pakistan causing the loss of two soldiers.
"Lies," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers said. "Any claims that they shot a helicopter down is false," CNN International reported.
Helicopters were deployed Sunday for the first time in air raids on the capital, Kabul, AFP reported.
According to CNN, meanwhile, the bodies of two Army Rangers killed in the crash of a Blackhawk helicopter in Pakistan arrived at the European Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, an army spokesman said.
The victims of the crash have been identified as Specialist John J. Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Private First Class Christopher T. Stonesifer, 28, of Missoula, Montana.
The Pentagon did not disclose when their bodies would be brought to the United States.
Abdel Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's ambassador in Pakistan, said Monday he received a report confirming the crash of the U.S. helicopters in Afghanistan.
He added that the number of Afghani refugees has been increasing daily and that Pakistan is helping them at the border but would not host them.
He also ruled out that U.S. troops would seek to gain entry into the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Replying to a question about accepting a political dialogue with the U.S., he said, "if the other side wants, we have no problem."
Meanwhile, Taliban leader Mullah Omar released a statement of continued defiance to the U.S.-led campaign against Afghanistan.
"The mujahedin [fighter] forces of the Islamic Emirate have risen against the pro-American rebels in the center and north of Afghanistan. Thanks to divine support they have shown stability despite the U.S. attacks," he said in a written statement.
"Muslims inside and outside Afghanistan should know that death in this sacred way is martyrdom and will ensure eternal happiness in heaven," the statement continued.
In Kabul, weary residents got a brief respite Monday with no overnight air raids for the first time since the beginning of the campaign - now in its third week. But the Taliban said U.S. forces had destroyed a 100-bed hospital in the western city of Herat.
Al- Jazeera reported that more than 70 civilians had been injured in the attack, and most of the medicine and hospital equipment were completely destroyed.
The head of the Taliban's official Bakhtar agency, Abdul Hanan Hemat, said the hospital was full of staff and patients when it was hit by a U.S. bomb during an overnight raid.
There were "very high" casualties, but initial reports did not indicate how many, Hemat said.
The Taliban says hundreds of Afghan civilians have been killed since U.S. air strikes began on October 7, but these claims have not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, the Taliban were redeploying men and weapons in attempts to counter more ground attacks by Washington, as London said elite British troops were ready to go into Afghanistan.
The official spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair questioned whether bin Laden would be specifically targeted by military action, saying, "It's not a video game, there are bound to be casualties - war is not a clean business."
Britain has always said it would respond positively to U.S. requests for assistance, which so far have included launching cruise missiles from nuclear submarines and refueling and reconnaissance assistance.
He declined to comment on speculations that SAS special forces were already on the ground in Afghanistan, where the U.S. deployed troops on Friday.
Amid U.S. warnings that the air and ground assault could last well into next month, the Taliban said Monday its redeployment of weapons and forces ordered by an emergency cabinet meeting was progressing well.
"We have been deploying them all over the country. Sixty percent of that work has been completed," said Muttaqi.
Washington has recently expanded the focus of its campaign to ground attacks in attempts to flush out alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'eda network, which have been blamed by the U.S. for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington would like to end the campaign before the onslaught of Afghanistan's severe winter.
"It would be in our interest and the interest of the coalition to see this matter resolved before winter strikes and it makes our operations that much more difficult," Powell told Fox television.
He acknowledged sensitivities among some of Washington's coalition partners if the prospect of continuing raids during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-November.
"We have to be respectful of that very, very significant religious period but at the same time we also have to make sure we pursue our campaign," Powell said.
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