KABUL (Islamweb & News Agencies) - U.S. planes pounded targets outside Afghanistan's capital Kabul once again early on Tuesday after Washington launched its heaviest daylight strikes so far to root out Osama bin Laden and punish his Taliban protectors.As a low-flying Air Force Special Forces AC-130 gunship concentrated its fire on targets in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on Monday, the Taliban's civil war foes said they were closing in on the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
CNN quoted witnesses in Kandahar as reporting unusual air activity overnight. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Two warplanes screamed over Kabul around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, dropping at least three bombs on targets just outside the city in the first attack since late Monday evening.
``The first plane came two minutes ago and attacked with two bombs, the Taliban were firing anti-aircraft fire,'' one witness said. ``Now there's another jet, I heard another explosion.''
It was the ninth successive night of attacks to force the Taliban to hand over Saudi-born bin Laden.
Defense officials in the United States said U.S. planes stepped up daylight strikes on Sunday. Monday's were the heaviest during the day so far of the military offensive that the United States and Britain launched on October 7. (Read photo caption below). Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vigorously disputed claims of widespread civilian casualties in the eight-day aerial bombardment of Afghanistan, and signaled stepped up attacks against Taliban troops in the field.
The AC-130s, four-engined turbo-prop planes that can carry a crew of 14, including five gunners, could lay down ``withering fire,'' one official said.
In Kabul, bombs or missiles struck city suburbs, abandoned military bases to the north and the airport, sending residents fleeing their homes. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Taliban troop concentrations north of Kabul were also targeted.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, right, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, answers a reporter's question during their joint Pentagon news conference Monday, Oct. 15, 2001. Rumsfeld lashed out at the Afghan Taliban leaders' claims that hundreds of civilians have been killed in U.S. attacks on Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)