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Al-Jazeera's Kabul Office Shelled Out of Action
DOHA, Nov 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Kabul office of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television channel was hit by missiles and shells as Afghan Northern Alliance forces entered the capital.
Al-Jazeera, which found fame and controversy with exclusive reports from behind Taliban lines, said Tuesday that its Kabul office had been put out of commission by a U.S. missile attack.
"U.S. aircraft bombed the Al-Jazeera offices in Kabul during the night," Al-Jazeera announced.
The satellite TV staff in the Afghan capital, which fell to Northern Alliance forces at dawn on Tuesday, were not wounded, but they could no longer be contacted, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The channel gave no details about the extent of the damage, but did say the home of one employee had also been hit.
In an earlier report, Al-Jazeera said the bureau had been hit by shells and put out of action as Northern Alliance forces entered the capital.
"Shells fell on the Al-Jazeera bureau in Kabul, but there were no casualties," said the station's correspondent in Kandahar.
Foreign journalists in Kabul had been confined to the Continental Hotel in the capital, at the orders of the Northern Alliance, reported the Pakistani daily,
Dawn.
Al-Jazeera's Kabul correspondent, Taysir Alluni, has become a celebrity in the Arab world with his exclusive reports from Taliban-held territory since the launch of the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan on October 7.
But the channel has also been heavily criticized in the West for allegedly being a mouthpiece for the Taliban and particularly Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden has appeared on videotapes aired by Al-Jazeera, allegedly urging Muslims to rise up against the West.
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