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Intense bombing pounds Tora Bora through night
With Osama bin Laden eluding U.S. military might, U.S. warplanes carried out some of their most intensive bombing raids yet on the caves and tunnels burrowed in eastern Afghanistan`s Tora Bora mountains.
With Osama bin Laden eluding U.S. military might, U.S. warplanes carried out some of their most intensive bombing raids yet on the caves and tunnels burrowed in eastern Afghanistan`s Tora Bora mountains.
U.S. officials believe the Saudi-born millionaire accused of masterminding the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 96 days ago may be hiding out in these jagged canyons -- but also say he could be anywhere. Throughout the previous day, U.S. bombers pounded the mountains, each strike visible first as a flash of flame, then as a pillar of smoke and several seconds later as a thunderclap as the soundwaves swept over the mountains.
Into the dawn on Saturday, the strikes through the night resounded over the barren mountains near the border with Pakistan.
"There was very heavy bombing through the night," said tank commander Babreg.
Rumors abounded that bin Laden`s al Qaeda forces fighting from their cave and valley hideouts in Tora Bora -- or black dust -- in the White Mountains some 25 miles south of the eastern city of Jalalabad may be ready to surrender.
"I have heard talk of this, but I have no news," Babreg said.
Hazrat Ali, commander of the eastern Jalalabad region that includes Tora Bora, declined a day earlier to give details as he directed operations from a mountainous position near the frontline, but said he would have more news on Saturday.
U.S. strikes have rained bombs on the Tora Bora region for days in an effort to destroy a final area of fierce resistance by followers of bin Laden, even unleashing the most powerful U.S. bomb, the 15,000-lb "daisy cutter."
U.S. officials believe the Saudi-born millionaire accused of masterminding the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 96 days ago may be hiding out in these jagged canyons -- but also say he could be anywhere. Throughout the previous day, U.S. bombers pounded the mountains, each strike visible first as a flash of flame, then as a pillar of smoke and several seconds later as a thunderclap as the soundwaves swept over the mountains.
Into the dawn on Saturday, the strikes through the night resounded over the barren mountains near the border with Pakistan.
"There was very heavy bombing through the night," said tank commander Babreg.
Rumors abounded that bin Laden`s al Qaeda forces fighting from their cave and valley hideouts in Tora Bora -- or black dust -- in the White Mountains some 25 miles south of the eastern city of Jalalabad may be ready to surrender.
"I have heard talk of this, but I have no news," Babreg said.
Hazrat Ali, commander of the eastern Jalalabad region that includes Tora Bora, declined a day earlier to give details as he directed operations from a mountainous position near the frontline, but said he would have more news on Saturday.
U.S. strikes have rained bombs on the Tora Bora region for days in an effort to destroy a final area of fierce resistance by followers of bin Laden, even unleashing the most powerful U.S. bomb, the 15,000-lb "daisy cutter."
Bureau Report