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Depraved reptiles in Afghan hospital strike 'kill 15

Luther Blissett | 31.10.2001 16:19

NWO jets struck before dawn today near the southern city of Kandahar, and officials there claimed that 15 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a hospital.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584136,00.html

Afghan hospital strike 'kills 15'

Kathy Gannon in Kabul, Associated Press
Wednesday October 31, 2001

US jets struck before dawn today near the southern city of Kandahar, and officials there claimed that 15 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a hospital.

In Islamabad, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, claimed a total of 1,500 people had been killed so far in the assault on Afghanistan, now in its fourth week. The Pentagon has accused the Taliban of inflating the number of civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, air attacks continued around the strategic northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in operations coordinated with anti-Taliban fighters, Afghans on both sides said.

The attack on Kandahar began several hours after a group of 29 Pakistani and western journalists arrived in the city on the first Taliban-conducted tour there since air raids began more than three weeks ago.

The journalists were taken to a hospital of the Afghan Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, where Dr Obeidallah Hadid said 15 people had been killed and 25 severely injured. The doctor himself had suffered a slight head injury.

Reporters could not see the bodies but saw some of the injured. Damage to the building, located about one mile north east of the city centre, was extensive. Two ambulances and two pickup trucks had also been destroyed.

In Islamabad, Mullah Zaeef also said the US efforts to help the anti-Taliban opposition capture Mazar-i-Sharif showed that the goal of the US-led campaign was not to combat terrorism but "to establish a puppet government in the north" and to "wipe out our Islamic identity".

"This is the worst type of state terrorism that the White House administration is perpetuating in Afghanistan," he said. The heavy bombing early today around Mazar-i-Sharif was reported by the ruling Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the bombing was on the edge of the city, toward front-line positions.

The Afghan Islamic Press agency, based in Pakistan, said that US planes had also attacked Taliban front lines defending Mazar-i-Sharif in the provinces of Samangan and Balkh, as well as Taliban targets in Parwan province, north
west of the capital, Kabul.

In separate bombing north of Kabul, witnesses said that at least 11 bombs fell this morning in some of the heaviest strikes yet on the front line. An Associated Press reporter saw six bombs fall.

And in western Herat province, there were reports that residents in Jabraheel, west of Herat city (the site of several UN refugee camps), have found small explosives the Taliban say were dropped two nights ago when the US-led coalition used cluster bombs. One person reportedly died after picking up a small bomb, although this could not be independently confirmed.

Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance is preparing for a march on Kabul and has deployed hundreds of its best troops near Taliban front lines north of the city. Taliban positions in those areas were hit by US bombs yesterday.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, acknowledged yesterday that there was a "very modest" number of uniformed military personnel in Afghanistan, coordinating air strikes with the opposition.

Mr Rumsfeld said the US soldiers are not telling the rebels what to do, adding, "these people have been fighting in that country for ages".

A senior opposition official said such coordination will increase, and alliance forces were planning a major offensive to take Mazar-i-Sharif.

By taking control of northern regions, the alliance hopes to open supply routes from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the north.

"There is coordination in all aspects," said Abdullah Abdullah, the foreign minister of the Afghan opposition's government-in-exile. He added: "There will be much better coordination in the coming days."

Despite their bravado, however, opposition forces are believed to be outmanned on the Kabul front. They are facing thousands of Taliban fighters and Arab allies of Bin Laden's network, believed to be entrenched across the hillsides and valley facing the opposition forces.

Saeed Hussain Anwari, chief of a Shi'ite Muslim faction in the Northern Alliance, said a few days ago that seven or eight US soldiers in civilian dress were in Kapisa and Parwan provinces, north of Kabul, for meetings with opposition commanders. He described them as "special forces" with "special experience".

Amir Khan Muttaqi, spokesman for the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, said he was unconcerned about the presence of US soldiers with the opposition Northern Alliance.

"This is not new," he said. "They have been there before since this began. It
won't make any difference. I can say proudly Afghans will never be ruled by
anyone who is brought in by force."

Opposition leaders have complained about what they called a lack of coordination with the US military in fighting the Taliban and the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Mr Rumsfeld said American forces were "very aggressively" going after Taliban defences facing the opposition and that 80% of the strikes yesterday had been focused on front lines.

Luther Blissett
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584136,00.html

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