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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: U Up U Down who wrote (18174)	10/11/2001 8:59:54 AM
From: U Up U Down	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 59480

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM: NOTHING LEFT TO BOMB hursday, October 11, 2001 OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM: NOTHING LEFT TO BOMB Strike rate leaves way clear for ground assault to start ALLIED pilots have no targets left in Afghanistan, military sources said yesterday. In a clear signal that a ground offensive was imminent, they revealed that bombing was almost complete because the attacks have had an 80 per cent strike rate. The only exception could be 5000lb laser-guided "bunker-buster" bombs which can strike deep into underground command-and-control sites belonging to the Taliban or Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Yesterday, American pilots continued to "bomb at will" in two day and night waves after destroying Taliban air fields and military targets over the previous three days. Small teams from the British SAS and its US equivalent Delta Force have been operating on the ground in Afghanistan for some time, pinpointing targets for warplanes and liaising with anti-Taliban Northern Alliance troops. Now the teams are assessing the damage and feeding information to generals who will oversee a ground assault. Once dropped in Afghanistan, ground forces would be supported by helicopter gunships such as the Apache. Although no specific British ground troops have been allocated for operations in Afghanistan, they could deploy very rapidly into the region if the need arose. As the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar was targeted yesterday, residents reported panic and chaos across the city. Shopkeeper Deen Mohammed, fleeing to the Pakistani border, said: "The airport was attacked again, and there was smoke everywhere. "People were running out of their homes and trying to get away." Yesterday, US Defence Department officials described the bombing campaign as a success so far. Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "Essentially we have air supremacy over Afghanistan." Officials revealed that all but one of the Taliban's air bases had been disabled in the bombing raids, along with their air defences and several al-Qaeda terrorist training camps. Neither Myers nor Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would say what the follow-up battle plan would be. Myers did not rule out providing close air support for an offensive by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces, who have doubled the territory they control from around five to 10 per cent. And Senator John McCain, a former Navy pilot, said: "I think you'll probably see helicopters inserting and extracting special forces personnel. An all-out ground invasion is just not on the cards. "But you probably have to go in on the ground to make sure the training camps and other terrorist networks are eliminated, and that means the risking of American lives."Meanwhile Taliban chiefs insisted they were still capable of defending the country, despite reports of desertions within their ranks. At the Nawanpas border check point near Jalalabad, Pakistani soldiers fought a gun battle with 30 Taliban fighters who tried to cross into Pakistan to escape the bombs. It was the second time Taliban forces have moved into Pakistan since the Allied bombing campaign began, on Sunday, defence and intelligence officials said. On Monday, Taliban pilots flew five helicopters across the border near Torkham, where they were detained by Pakistani authorities. Yesterday's gun battle began when Pakistani border guards opened fire on Taliban soldiers trying to leave Afghanistan. The Taliban troops returned fire and the exchange went on for two hours before they withdrew. It was unclear whether anyone was wounded in the skirmish. A small village north of Kabul was hit by apparent stray missile during last night's raids, damaging houses and injuring several people. dailyrecord.co.uk