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Large explosions in Kabul Saturday
10/13/2001
By KATHY GANNON and AMIR SHAH KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban report that 200 villagers were killed in a
missile strike this week opened a contentious exchange of claims and
counter-claims Friday over civilian casualties from the U.S.-led air campaign
against Afghanistan. Later, the air campaign apparently resumed early Saturday when several planes
streaked over Kabul and large explosions were heard in northern areas of the
city, rattling buildings in the heart of the capital. The apparent new round of attacks followed a lull in the U.S.-led campaign
against the Taliban militia Friday for the Muslim day of weekly prayers. Saturday's air attacks mark the beginning of a seventh day of strikes against
the Taliban, which governs Afghanistan and is sheltering Osama bin Laden, linked
to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Until the air strikes resumed early Saturday, missiles had landed outside
Kabul before dawn Friday but the rest of the day was quiet. The Taliban said at least 200 were killed when the village of Karam, near the
eastern town of Jalalabad, was struck by missiles on Wednesday. ``We're still digging bodies out of the rubble,'' Zadra Azam — the Taliban
deputy governor of Nangarhar province, where the village is located — said
Friday. British officials dismissed Taliban casualty claims as propaganda. ``It's
widely understood ... that there have not been so many civilian casualties,''
International Development Secretary Clare Short said in London. She spoke after
the Taliban announcement of deaths in Karam, but it was not clear if she was
also referring to them. Even before Friday's report, the Taliban have spoken of dozens killed in the
raids. Reports of casualties are extremely difficult to verify, with Afghanistan
all but sealed off from the outside world. Foreigners — including foreign
journalists — have been ordered out. There are no international telephone lines.
Use of equipment like satellite phones and computers is severely restricted.
Only the deaths of four guards working for a mine-clearing agency contracted
by the United Nations have been confirmed — by U.N. officials in neighboring
Pakistan. Taliban casualty claims have typically been made in an erratic manner. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, changed the numbers in
the middle of a news conference Thursday in Islamabad. He first put the number
at 70, then at the end hastily told reporters that 100 people had been killed in
a place he identified only as a village near Jalalabad. Now that the Taliban have identified the village, its location could provide
a clue. Karam lies very close to the town of Darunta, about 80 miles east of the
capital, Kabul, in an area where Osama bin Laden is believed to train fighters
for his al-Qaida network. Camps of bin Laden — the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks against
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — have been prime targets in the course
of the air campaign launched Sunday. The United States and its allies have repeatedly stressed that everything
possible will be done to avoid civilian casualties. Still, they acknowledge that
such deaths are almost unavoidable, with targets in or near populated areas.
``I think everyone in this country knows that the United States of America
does not target civilians. We have not, we do not,'' Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon when asked Thursday about Taliban claims. ``There is no question but that when one is engaged militarily that there are
going to be unintended loss of life,'' he said. ``And there's no question but
that I and anyone involved regrets the unintended loss of life.'' Reports of civilian deaths clearly caused unease for Pakistan, already facing
an angry backlash from militant Islamic groups over its support for the United
States against bin Laden and the Taliban. ``We have been assured again and again that only terrorists and those who
provide protection to terrorists will be targeted,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman
Riaz Mohammed Khan told journalists on Friday. At the Pakistani border, panicky arriving Afghan refugees have repeatedly
told of airstrikes that have hit close to populated areas. A farmer from the village of Kalamtar, not far from the often-hit Taliban
stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, told of his family's ordeal.
``I have never seen such a sight. Bombs were dropping in and around the
village, and there was fire and smoke everywhere,'' said Agha Jan Agha, arriving
at the Pakistani border with his family. He said they walked six miles before
finding a car to take them to the frontier. Refugees have reported civilian casualties, but have offered few specifics.
Before dawn Friday, U.S. warplanes dropped bombs north of Kabul in the
direction of the front line where Taliban soldiers face off against opposition
troops. The ground trembled and windows rattled in Kabul from the force of the
impact. At the Pentagon, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff, said strikes were not planned during the day Friday because of weekly
prayers. The British undersecretary of defense, Lewis Moonie, suggested the slowdown
may go on for several more days because of a Muslim festival commemorating the
mystical journey of the Prophet Muhammad to heaven. ``I would not be surprised if activity was much less over this weekend,'' he
said in London. Commemorations vary among Muslim countries, with some celebrating the holiday
Friday or Saturday and others not until Monday. It is observed Monday in
Pakistan and Afghanistan. In other developments Friday: — In northern Afghanistan, rebel troops and Taliban soldiers were reported to
be locked in fierce fighting near the northern city and key stronghold of
Mazar-e-Sharif. Mohajeddin Mehdi, an official in Tajikistan affiliated with the
opposition's government-in-exile, said the opposition had seized strategic
points to block Taliban supply routes. The claim could not be independently
confirmed. A senior U.S. defense official in Washington confirmed Friday that opposition
forces had captured the capital of central Ghowr province, Chaghcharan. The
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the city lies on a key route
between Kabul and the Taliban-controlled city of Herat in the west. — Thousands of anti-U.S. protesters in the Pakistani city of Karachi stoned
police, torched cars and set ablaze a KFC restaurant licensed by the American
fast-food chain. But the threat of wider protests after the first Friday prayers
since the start of the air campaign did not materialize. — In Kabul, worshippers at the central Haji Yaqoub mosque heard fiery appeals
for divine vengeance from the imam, or preacher. ``Cruel America has killed
scores of our people,'' he said. ``We pray to God that the United States should
meet a fate similar to that we are suffering.'' EDITOR'S NOTE: Kathy Gannon contributed to this dispatch from Islamabad,
Pakistan.
Associated Press