Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said Sunday that at least 50-60 civilians had been killed in US attacks in the last three days in the western city of Herat, hours after the US announced the success of its first commando raids on Taliban sites in the south, according to reports.
Abdul Hanan Hemat, chief of the Taliban's Bakhtar Information Agency, gave the death toll as he provided details of the latest US operations by jets and helicopters in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.
It was the first US use of helicopters to attack Kabul, according to Abu Dhabi satellite channel, although the Taliban have previously claimed to be targeted in such attacks.
Hemat said between 50 and 60 civilians had been killed by US bombardments in Herat, adding that 150 others had been wounded.
He further said that the village of Eshaq Salaiman, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Herat, was bombed by US jets on Saturday night leaving eight dead and 15 to 20 people wounded.
Since October 7, the United States and Britain have been carrying out daily air strikes on targets of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, the accused mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.
The air raids were renewed Sunday, according to AFP.
It quoted a report by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) as saying that US warplanes attacked Taliban frontline positions in the northern province of Samangan for a second straight day.
The agency quoted its own sources as the basis for the report, but said the attacks had also been confirmed by Taliban officials.
A spokesman for the anti-Taliban opposition forces in the region told AFP on Saturday that the Taliban frontline positions there had come under sustained attack from US warplanes for the first time.
The US announced last week that it would be shifting the focus of its bombing of Afghanistan to help the opposition Northern Alliance make gains against the Taliban.
US cooperation with the opposition has also been stepped up with the arrival of a team of US military officials in Samangan province, where they are liaising with General Abdul Rashid Dostam, an ethnic Uzbek warlord.
It is not clear why the US has singled out Dostam, a controversial figure who has in the past fought against some of his current allies.
CNN.com said that noise from at least one helicopter and anti-aircraft fire could be heard in Kabul on Saturday night following a day of bombardment and two overnight commando raids by US special forces.
In Kandahar, where soldiers conducted a raid overnight, an AC-130 gunship could be heard descending over the city shortly after 9:00pm local time (12:30 p.m. EDT).
Kandahar was in a state of chaos, as thousands continued fleeing the city for the Pakistan border. United Nations officials estimated that 80 percent of the city's residents had left. Kandahar was reported without electricty and water, and food was virtually nonexistent. Witnesses also reported seeing looters sacking homes, said CNN.
The nighttime strikes followed heavy daylight bombing raids near Kandahar and other cities, with sorties commencing about 10:30am (1:30am EDT) in a village northwest of Kandahar.
Fighting also raged on several fronts Saturday between the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance, including along the front line north of Kabul and in several key northern locations.
Late Friday, more than 100 US Special Operations combat troops, including US Army Rangers, entered Afghanistan, officials said. Over the course of several hours, they completed an operation against a target in Kandahar, they announced.
The troops "accomplished their objectives" after parachuting into an airfield in southern Afghanistan and a Taliban command-and-control center near Kandahar, said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke at a Pentagon press briefing Saturday - Albawaba.com
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