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Afghan Cities Hit for Third Night
KABUL, Oct 10 (News Agencies) - U.S. warplanes and cruise missiles pounded the Afghan capital and other cities overnight as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group warned of further hijackings and urged Muslims to join an anti-U.S. war.
Explosions and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies of Kabul and other cities as U.S.-led forces launched a third night of strikes Tuesday on suspected bases of bin Laden's alleged terror network al-Qaeda and his Taliban protectors.
As the U.S. military claimed "air supremacy" over Afghanistan, al-Qaeda - "The Base" - warned of further attacks on the United States and said thousands of Muslims were willing to lay down their lives in a "jihad," or struggle.
"The Americans must know that the storm of [hijacked] airplanes will not stop," al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith said in a pre-recorded message broadcast by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television station.
"From today onwards, the Islamic nation will not keep silent. Jihad today is a duty of every Muslim," he said.
"The American interests are everywhere, all over the world. And every Muslim has to play his real and true role to uphold his religion as his nation."
The White House said the call bolstered U.S. accusations that bin Laden carried out the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington which left more than 5,700 people dead.
U.S. warplanes flew sorties overnight against Taliban positions around Kabul, the western cities of Herat and Shindand, plus Jalalabad in the east.
In Kabul, ground-to-air tracer fire lit up the night sky, residents cowered in cellars and basements and electricity was cut, plunging the curfew-bound city into darkness, as jets made two passes, beginning at 9:20 pm (1650 GMT).
At least one loud explosion was heard. The planes returned early Wednesday morning, triggering another barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
Bombs or missiles also struck two Taliban-held airfields in Herat and Shindand, anti-Taliban commander Ismail Khan told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Witnesses reported another attack on the militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar, where Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's house was bombed Tuesday.
Taliban officials said Omar was safe and that bin Laden, the chief target of the U.S. "war on terrorism," was still alive and in hiding in Afghanistan.
"[Bin Laden] is alive," the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef said. "He is not in a location that is known to the people. He is in the mountains for his security."
U.S. President George W. Bush said in Washington the United States had secured air supremacy over Afghanistan, but declined to indicate whether ground troops would now move in.
The latest wave of attacks came as Washington pondered how a stray missile might have killed civilian security guards at a de-mining agency in Kabul.
U.N. officials confirmed four people died when a cruise missile slammed into the offices of Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC) late Monday.
The Taliban said at least 35 civilians had been killed or injured by the U.S.-led strikes Monday. There was no confirmation of casualties from Tuesday night's raids.
"Tens of civilians have been killed in attacks on Afghan cities," Zaeef said. "This is open terrorism, this is not prosecuting so-called terrorists."
"We are determined to offer two million martyrs in the name of Islam if need be," he added.
A senior anti-Taliban opposition leader said U.S. air strikes had severely damaged the Taliban's military capacity.
"The Taliban have lost their military capacity to a large extent," Northern Alliance spokesman Abdullah Abdullah said. "Their air power has been destroyed, most of their headquarters destroyed and their control system severely disturbed."
Abdullah also said opposition forces, which control less than 10% of the country, had managed to cut off the Taliban's main supply route to their fighters in northern Afghanistan.
The snapping of the link means the Taliban will now have to use a much longer and far more hazardous route to supply their northern frontlines from their headquarters in the south.
The strikes have given fresh impetus to the Northern Alliance and the opposition said they had launched ground assaults in Badghis, Balkh and Samangan provinces.
Abdullah predicted on Britain's Channel 4 television the Taliban would fall "in a matter of weeks, perhaps, if not days."
The air strikes have prompted growing anger in neighboring Pakistan were President Pervez Musharraf is trying to balance his support for the "war on terrorism" with the demands of religious leaders.
Five people were killed in the western Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday in violent rallies by hardline religious groups protesting against the attacks. One person died on Monday and 38 were injured in similar clashes.
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