U.S. Bomb Kills 10 in Afghan Village

Reuters, October 28, 2001
By Sayed Salahuddin

	An Afghan man lifts the head of a child who along with 11 other civilians died during US air raids in Kabul on October 28, 2001, witnesses said a man and his seven children were killed when a bomb crashed through their home. (AP photo) More photos

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Taliban positions around Kabul Sunday but one bomb killed at least 10 people in a village controlled by Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance, television reported.

Waves of bombers hit positions of the hardline Muslim militia in the north of the capital overnight, witnesses said.

Qatar's al-Jazeera television said a stray bomb hit a village in the area but did not give its name. It quoted medical sources in the town of Jabal-us-Saraj as saying the village was located a few kilometers from the frontline.

It showed footage of destroyed houses, apparently in the village.

Jazeera said Italian medical staff operating in the area confirmed the attack, saying 16 people were killed.

A source at the Northern Alliance Foreign Ministry also confirmed to Jazeera the village had been hit, but gave no details.

The Taliban says hundreds of Afghan civilians have been killed by stray U.S. bombs or missiles.

The U.S. raids -- in retaliation for the Taliban's sheltering of the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States that killed around 5,000 -- resumed at dawn Sunday, witnesses said.

"They have dropped eight or nine bombs since early morning,'' said a Kabul resident, adding the raids were less intense than those of the previous night.

U.S. warplanes have been pounding the Taliban frontline positions near Kabul to help the Northern Alliance opposition forces.

They alliance is battling many foreign fighters -- including Arabs, Pakistanis and Chechens -- who are among the fiercest and most determined soldiers in the Taliban militia.

The Taliban controls some 90 percent of Afghanistan and its lightly armed soldiers have not collapsed under the three-week-old U.S. air onslaught.

Washington's political campaign to replace the Taliban with a broad coalition of Afghans took a blow when the Taliban captured and executed opposition commander Abdul Haq, who had been trying to persuade Pashtun tribal leaders to switch allegiance.

Haq is expected to be buried Sunday. His family hope the Taliban will release the body for burial in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar.

The U.S. began military operations against Afghanistan on October 7 to flush out the wealthy, Saudi-born bin Laden, who has denied responsibility for the September 11 attacks.

The report of another stray U.S. bomb could renew calls from Muslim political parties and aid organizations for an end to the U.S and British bombing.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, under fire at home from Islamic opponents for dropping support for the Taliban, has said the bombing must be as short and targeted as possible.

The Jamiat Ulema Islam party has called a day of protests in Pakistan for Monday.

About 4,500 Pakistani tribesmen are expected to resume their march Sunday toward the Afghan border. They say they want to help the Taliban.

Buses, wagons, pick-up trucks and vehicles with Muslim activists carrying Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers set out for Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province Saturday.

The group was led by firebrand Islamic party head Sufi Mohammad, who has called for jihad, or a holy struggle, against the United States.

A Pakistani security official said the men had camped for the night 12 km (seven miles) from the border.

h t t p : / / w w w . r a w a . o r g