Bin Laden 'leading 1,000 men' in Tora Bora battle
By Reuters
KABUL/CHAMAN, Pakistan - Osama bin Laden was said to be leading about 1,000 men "in person" to defend his bomb-blasted mountain hideouts in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday as tribesmen feuded over the former Taliban bastion of Kandahar.
A Northern Alliance military helicopter crashed overnight in unexplained circumstances in the north, killing 18 Afghans, including two anti-Taliban commanders, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported, quoting an alliance spokesman.
In eastern Afghanistan, local Afghans backed by U.S. air power kept up pressure on bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters in the Tora Bora region. An Alliance spokesman said the Saudi-born militant was leading the defence of his mountain hideouts.
"Osama himself has taken the command of the fighting," Mohammad Amin said by satellite phone from Jalalabad.
"He, along with around 1,000 of his people, including some Taliban officials, have now dug themselves into the forests of Spin Ghar after we overran all their bases in Tora Bora.
"He (bin Laden) is here for sure," Amin said.
"American planes have been carrying out regular and severe bombings to kill him," he said, adding that at least one of bin Laden's Arab fighters had been killed in "very intense" fighting.
There was no independent confirmation of Amin's account.
Waves of U.S. B-52 heavy bombers and smaller warplanes pounded Tora Bora from daybreak, CNN reported from the scene.
It said al Qaeda fighters had kept up a barrage of mortar fire for several hours on Saturday, cutting a road into Tora Bora and forcing their opponents' tanks to pull back.
The United States launched strikes on Afghanistan on October 7 to try to catch bin Laden and destroy his al Qaeda network, suspected of carrying out the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed up to 3,900 people. |
