Air raids resume; ground troops move in
October 20, 2001 Posted: 9:19 p.m. EDT (0119 GMT)
cnn.com
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least one helicopter and anti-aircraft fire could be heard in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, Saturday night following a day of bombardment and two overnight commando raids by U.S. special forces.
In Kandahar, where soldiers conducted a raid overnight, an AC-130 gunship could be heard descending over the city shortly after 9 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. EDT).
Kandahar was in a state of chaos, as thousands continued fleeing the city for the Pakistan border. United Nations officials estimated that 80 percent of the city's residents had left. Kandahar was reported without electricty and water, and food was virtually nonexistent. Witnesses also reported seeing looters sacking homes.
The nighttime strikes followed heavy daylight bombing raids near Kandahar and other cities, with sorties commencing about 10:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT) in a village northwest of Kandahar.
Fighting also raged on several fronts Saturday between the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance, including along the front line north of Kabul and in several key northern locations.
Late Friday, more than 100 U.S. Special Operations combat troops, including U.S. Army Rangers, entered Afghanistan, officials said. Over the course of several hours, they completed an operation against a target in Kandahar, they said. (Full story)
The troops "accomplished their objectives" after parachuting into an airfield in southern Afghanistan and a Taliban command-and-control center near Kandahar, said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke at a Pentagon press briefing Saturday.
Latest developments
• In a personal letter replying to the e-mail of an American, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered his condolences to the author regarding the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraqi News Agency reported Saturday. Hussein's letter, posted on the agency's Web site, referred to his U.S. correspondent Christopher J. Love as a "brother in the family of mankind" before launching into a lecture on American sanctions against Iraq and U.S. policies toward Arabs and Muslims.
• Seventeen months after three managers pleaded guilty to breaking Federal Aviation Administration rules by allowing untrained employees -- some with criminal backgrounds -- to operate airport checkpoints, an airport security firm, Argenbright Security Inc., is expected to admit it failed to complete court-ordered background checks on its employees, the Justice Department said Saturday. (Full story)
• Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, told reporters Saturday that he and Bush administration officials have been discussing a post-Taliban Afghan government. "We hope it will be an Afghanistan where all communities will be comfortable, where cultural traditions are fully respected," Brahimi said. "As to what kind of government that will be, it's too early to say."
• In Pakistan, Antonio Donini, U.N. humanitarian coordinator, described Saturday what he called abuses of U.N. property and personnel at the hands of Taliban troops. "In various centers -- Jalalabad, Kandahar, Kabul and parts of the north -- we are receiving reports from various sources about U.N. and aid offices being taken over, items seized or looted and staff beaten," Donini said.
• Thousands of Afghans fleeing a rapidly deteriorating situation and a fast-approaching winter huddled Saturday behind Afghanistan's border with Pakistan at Chaman, barred by border officials from crossing out of their bomb-blasted land. Reports elsewhere in Afghanistan indicate hundreds of thousands are on the move, running for safety, security and food. (Full story)
• President Bush was informed about the deaths of the two U.S. military personnel in the helicopter crash in Pakistan before leaving his hotel in Shanghai, China, for a day of meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. "I want to assure the loved ones that the soldiers died in a cause that is just and right, and that we will prevail," Bush said. "These soldiers will not have died in vain." (Full story)
• Bush on Saturday described the fight against terrorism as a battle between the forces of creation and destruction. (Full story)
• Bush's weekly radio address Saturday continued his anti-terrorism theme. "If we do not stand against terrorism now, every civilized nation will at some point be its target," Bush said. "We will defeat the terrorists by destroying their network, wherever it is found. We will also defeat the terrorists by building an enduring prosperity that promises more opportunity and better lives for all the world's people. We will oppose envy, resentment and anger with growth, trade and democracy."
• Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Saturday presented Bush with a traditional Japanese bow and arrow used by ancient warlords to mark the start of combat. An inscription on the arrow reads: "The arrow to defeat the evil and bring peace on Earth."
• A bomb exploded near Pakistan's Islamabad International Airport on Saturday as a bomb squad was trying to disarm the device. No one was injured. Members of the bomb squad had taken the bomb, discovered outside the airport's departure hall, to a remote area outside the airport perimeter to disarm it. There were no immediate reports of claims of responsibility. (Full story)
• New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave reporters new data Friday on the toll from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The number of missing is 4,470, with 460 bodies found, he said. So far, 359,299 tons of debris have been removed from the site, including 66,797 tons of steel, in 24,321 truckloads. |
