Three hundred al-Qaeda fighters besieged in the Tora Bora mountain region have promised to surrender on Saturday to Afghan forces, a militia commander said.
Said Mohammad Palawan, a local militia commander, made the announcement as us planes stepped up bombing raids on the mountains in eastern Afghanistan in a bid to force out the followers of Osama bin Laden and possibly capture the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Palawan said the 300 were to start coming out of the caves and tunnels from this morning. It was not immediately known if they had started giving up. Several hundred mainly foreign fighters have been under siege in the caves for the past two weeks. Tora Bora is the last known major base for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Bureau Report