Afghan militia groups are no longer discussing a surrender with Al Qaeda fighters in the Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan and will soon launch an offensive, a commander said Thursday.
Haji Mohammad Zaman, one of three local commanders leading the militia forces against the followers of Osama bin Laden, told reporters "there are no more negotiations."
As he got into a vehicle heading towards the frontlines, Zaman added: "We are launching the battle now."
Huge Bombing Raids on Al Qaeda Mountain Positions
US warplanes staged huge bombing raids Thursday on the mountain positions of the al-Qaeda network in eastern Afghanistan.
Bombing intensified as Afghan militia commanders said surrender talks had ended and they would launch an offensive on the Osama bin Laden loyalists in their complex of caves and tunnels in Tora Bora.
One US jet, hidden behind clouds, dropped four or five bombs into a valley between two mountains where hardline followers of accused terrorist leader bin Laden have sought refugee in the caves and on mountain peaks.
The bombs, which fell barely 500 metres (yards) from the frontline command post of local Afghan militia leaders, set off a ball of flame and a chain of huge explosions through the White Mountain range which includes the Tora Bora caves.
The latest raids started from 8:00 am (0330 GMT) against Melewa mountain, one of the peaks in the Tora Bora region. Another jet carried out three more bombing raids over the next hour.
Sporadic small arm fire also reverberated through the valleys.
Several hundred bin Laden fighters are believed to be grouped around the summits of the mountains. They have refused to surrender although reports have spoken of new attempts to persuade them to give up.
Haji Mohammad Zaman, one of three local commanders leading the militia forces against bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters, told reporters "there are no more negotiations."
As he got into a vehicle heading towards the frontlines, Zaman added: "We are launching the battle now."
One deadline for a surrender passed Wednesday with no sign of al-Qaeda fighters coming down from the mountains close to the Pakistan border.
There were signs of a growing presence of US and British special forces in the region as pressure mounted on the al-Qaeda fighters.
A group of seven or eight Western-looking fighters were seen walking up the slopes in front of the militia command post. Two Afghan fighters on the frontline said they were British.
According to the Washington Post, there are 60 British Special Air Service (SAS) troops and 40 US Special Forces troops in Tora Bora helping the hunt for bin Laden.
The US newspaper also said US military operatives had opposed a surrender deal with the al-Qaeda fighters.
Late Wednesday night, two big helicopters were seen landing about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from Tora Bora mountain.
Several Afghan fighters have said that forces of Hazrat Ali, one of three local commanders fighting al-Qaeda, would launch an offensive Thursday.
Meanwhile, some 4,000 Pakistani troops have fanned out opposite Afghanistan's White Mountains in a low-key military buildup to prevent the escape of bin Laden and his followers into Pakistan, officers said.
Regular army and tribal paramilitary forces, backed by helicopter gunships, have been deployed along a 40 kilometre (25 mile) stretch of the tribal belt in northwestern Pakistan, they said.
The mountainous, semi-autonomous region sits opposite the Tora Bora cave complex -- AFP
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