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U.S. Reports on Killings of Afghani Officials Denied
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by Amir Abdul Latif, IOL correspondent in Kandahar
KANDAHAR, Oct 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban denied reports that the country's air force chief and the commander of Nangarhar province were killed in Tuesday's air strikes on Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad and Kundoes.
"The Air Force Chief Mullah Ahktar Mansoor and Commander of the Nangarhar province, Muhammed Omer, are safe, and all the rumors with regards to their martyrdom are baseless and devoid of truth," an Afghan Defense Ministry official, Mualvi Najeebullah, told an IslamOnline (IOL) correspondent in Kandahar.
He said these sorts of rumors were being disseminated by U.S. sources in order to bully the Afghan people into fear and psychological pressure. However, he vowed, they would not be intimidated by these "cowardly" attempts.
Meanwhile, rescue operations are underway in Kandahar and other cities, where deep ditches and debris from homes could be seen sprawling across suburban areas.
The Afghan official claimed that U.S. cruise missiles had hit a hospital in Kabul Tuesday killing a dozen patients and injuring several others.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces, claiming control of Afghan skies, were flying round-the-clock sorties Wednesday on the fourth day of their assault against Osama bin Laden, his al-Qa'eda network and their Taliban protectors, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
But there appeared to be no immediate shift to low-altitude raids that would allow the U.S. to pinpoint target military installations and camps in order to clear the way for the deployment of ground troops.
"We feel essentially we have air supremacy over Afghanistan," General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint U.S. Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday.
"We believe we are now able to carry out strikes more or less around the clock as we wish," added U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But after more than two decades of war, Afghans seemed to be taking the raids in stride.
"We've been used to this kind of atmosphere for 20 years," one resident said. "As soon as they hear the planes coming, people take cover in cellars and basements, or anywhere they can find."
"Anyway, most of the attacks have been out at the airport, so there hasn't been that much panic in the city itself," he told AFP.
The Taliban said residential areas near Kabul and Kandahar were hit in overnight raids by U.S.-led forces and claimed, for the second day running, that the raids had caused civilian casualties.
"Tens of people have died in the attacks last night and this morning all over the country," a Taliban official said, AFP reported.
Eighty-one people thus far have been reported dead as a result of the U.S. bombing spree.
Four Afghan workers with a U.N.-affiliated mine clearing agency were killed when a missile slammed into their Kabul office Tuesday, AFP said.
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