By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com - Cairo
Sources in London known to be close to the ruling Afghan movement, Taliban, said the militia had succeeded in shooting down another spy plane in the north of the country on Sunday.
In a statement e-mailed to Albawaba.com, the London-based Islamic Observatory quoted Taliban officials as saying that that the plane was brought down in the north of the country, where clashes between Taliban and the Northern Alliance opposition militia were reported on the same day.
AFP also reported that Taliban claimed to have shot down “an unidentified plane in the northern province of Samangan.”
On Saturday, the Taliban said it shot down an unmanned spy plane, which was initially identified as belonging to the United States.
Washington is gearing up for a possible attack on Afghanistan's Taliban, who have defied a US ultimatum to hand over Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Military sources in Uzbekistan have said US electronic surveillance planes have arrived at an air base outside the capital, Tashkent, in preparation for an attack on the Taliban.
In addition, US attack helicopters that took part in a joint NATO-Uzbek military exercise earlier this month remained at a military base some 40 kilometers east of Tashkent, they said, cited by the agency.
Meanwhile, the Observatory statement quoted a Taliban spokesman in Pakistan, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, as saying that the group was not able to pass on to bin Laden an official decision issued by Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The mullah, he said, had endorsed a fatwa, or edict, from Afghanistan's ulema, or scholars, last week asking the militia to persuade bin Laden to leave the country voluntarily.
"Osama bin Laden is missing. We are searching for him," Mutmaen said.
"We are still making efforts to locate him. When he is found the edict will be delivered to him. Then he will decide whether to leave Afghanistan or not," Mutmaen said, indicating bin Laden was still in the country, according to the statement and AFP.
Bin Laden has been living under Taliban protection in Afghanistan since 1996.
The radical Islamic militia, which rules most of the country, has refused to hand him over without solid evidence of his guilt.
Washington responded swiftly to Mutmaen's remarks, with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice insisting that the United States was "not going to be deterred" by Taliban reports that he had disappeared, according to the agency.
The United States has ruled out negotiations and demanded the instant and unconditional hand-over of bin Laden, as well as the closure of all alleged terrorist camps in territory under Taliban control.
Meanwhile, reports quoted the foreign minister of the Northern Alliance, Abdullah Issa, as saying that bin Laden and Mullah Omar had fled to the south of the country.
A report by the Washington Times claimed that the suspected terrorist had gone to Somalia “to continue his terrorist attacks.”
US forces capable of dealing out a massive attack have been building up in the region surrounding Afghanistan, but Taliban officials Sunday reiterated that they would never give bin Laden up to his enemies under threat of war.
The militia has claimed to have bin Laden under tight controls which make it impossible for him to organize terrorist strikes abroad.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
