Afghan fighters hunting for Osama bin Laden clashed with his Arab loyalists in Afghanistan's eastern mountains on Saturday, as rival factions squabbled over control of the Taliban's fallen stronghold of Kandahar.
Amid the confusion over the fate of Kandahar, the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, appeared to have escaped the city, leaving the US-led forces encircling his last bastion unsure of his whereabouts.
Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters and US warplanes closing in on bin Laden's supposed lair pounded positions held by his al-Qaeda fighters among the snow-capped peaks of Tora Bora, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Jalalabad.
"We hope, God willing, that we will arrest him very soon. We think that today or the day after today we will martyr them," said Hazrat Ali, a commander of the US-backed Afghan forces fighting their way into the mountains.
Overnight, US fighter bombers pounded positions guarding a large fortified bunker complex thought to be held by al-Qaeda. US and British special forces teams have been seen in the area cooperating with their Afghan allies.
On Saturday, a B-52 strategic bomber was seen unleashing a massive hail of bombs on al-Qaeda positions on Melawa mountain at 12:50 pm, sending up a huge cloud of dust.
Detonations could be heard as clashes on the ground broke out and Afghan fighters exchanged mortar fire with al-Qaeda fighters.
Ali and other anti-Taliban commanders have reported that bin Laden, an exiled Saudi Islamic extremist with a 25 million-dollar bounty on his head, had been spotted within the past few days in the Tora Bora region.
"Three days ago, we captured a prisoner from al-Qaeda who told us that Osama was living here but he had moved to the top of the mountain. I think he is probably here," Ali said.
It was not clear who was in control of the Taliban's last bastion, the southern city of Kandahar. Rival anti-Taliban leaders vied for control of the town, which the ousted regime surrendered on Friday.
Forces loyal to Afghan tribal chief Gul Agha, the former governor of Kandahar, said they had taken control of the city and were prepared to fight a rival faction under Mullah Naqibullah for control of it.
But the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press and witnesses fleeing the city said no one faction had complete control, amid fears that fresh fighting could break out between the rival groups.
Gul Agha's spokesman, Jalal Khan, told AFP by telephone that his commander had installed himself in the governor's mansion and had ordered a mullah to pull out or face attack.
"We have sent neutral people to Mullah Naqibullah, who is at the main military headquarters in Kandahar," Khan said. "We need a response him: Yes or no. Give up or be ready for fighting."
In the northern Pakistani town of Quetta, Gul Agha's cousin and spokesman said that five of Gul Agha's men had been killed in clashes.
The threat of further inter-Afghan violence took the shine off the defeat of the Taliban's last bastion, which ought to have been the first victory by the new interim regime approved by Afghan factions in talks in Bonn on Wednesday.
Under a deal struck by the new government's prime minister, Hamid Karzai, Kandahar's Taliban defenders were to have surrendered to his US-backed forces, who have vowed to capture Mullah Omar.
Khan said Gul Agha had not captured Omar but claimed the Taliban leader might still be in the city after having been captured by Karzai or Naqibullah.
"Mullah Mohammad Omar is a criminal and the main culprit. Whether he is with Hamid Karzai or Mullah Naqib (Naqibullah), our men are chasing him and they will track him down along with his close aides," said Khan.
A Taliban official, however, claimed Omar had escaped.
"I can confirm it to you that he is no longer in Kandahar. He is out of Kandahar," said the Pakistan-based official, who asked not to be named.
Both the United States and Karzai have said Omar himself should stand trial for supporting bin Laden, who has been blamed for the September 11 attacks on US landmarks that left around 3,500 people dead.
More than 1,000 US Marines are deployed around Kandahar, but their quarry proved elusive in the confusion of the fall of the city and fears that isolated Taliban bands could launch a guerrilla counteroffensive.
A spokesman for US Central Command said that Washington had no good information on Omar's whereabouts. "There's a lot of reports coming out of the area -- the area is still very confused," Lieutenant Colonel Martin Compton told AFP.
"We have seen reports saying he's captured, other reports saying that he has escaped. The indications we have right now don't support any of those."
Talking to the Washington Post, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld welcomed the fall of Kandahar but warned the situation could deteriorate.
"The Kandahar situation is a bit like a Wild West show," he said. "It is very untidy."
Kandahar residents and tribal elders told AFP by telephone that Naqibullah's forces were the first anti-Taliban forces into the city but that Gul Agha's men had arrived soon afterward and there had been brief clashes.
"Gul Agha is right now in Kandahar city," said Abdul Khaliq, a former Afghan consul general to Quetta. "He is in the governor's house. He wants the job, so he wants the house."
Hafiz Abdul Rub, a deserting Taliban fighter who left Kandahar on Saturday and arrived at the Pakistani border town of Chaman, told AFP that no one faction had control of the city.
"There are still Arab Taliban moving around the city. They are armed," he said. "No one is in control of the city. Mullah Naqib should be in control, but no one is."
Hundreds of armed Taliban were seen leaving the city on Friday and at least one fleeing convoy was attacked by US Marines, whom officials said killed seven militia fighters in their first confirmed ground offensive.
Meanwhile, international leaders were seeking to build on the success of Wednesday's agreement on an interim government with a strengthened aid drive.
A seven-member team from the UN's peacekeeping operations in New York included representatives of the military, civilian police and the judiciary.
"They are here to check on the logistics and security arrangements for the multinational force," said Wivina Belmonte, the UN spokeswoman in Kabul.
In Peshawar, Pakistan, one of four main groups that helped forge the Bonn accord for an interim Afghan government -- due to be up and running by December 22 -- called Saturday on the UN to start a voter registration drive in anticipation of general elections.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, continued his Central Asian tour with a visit to Kazakhstan on Saturday, on the heels of a diplomatic triumph in which he persuaded the reluctant Uzbek authorities to open an aid route to Afghanistan.
In Tashkent, Powell said Uzbek President Islam Karimov had agreed to open the socalled Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya River into northern Afghanistan, where US and French troops are trying to ensure aid deliveries.
"That will ease the humanitarian situation considerably, and we thank the president for that," Powell said.
Next week, US Attorney General John Ashcroft is to travel to London, Madrid, Berlin, Brussels and Rome to meet with police and justice ministry officials investigating the September 11 attacks on US landmarks, the Justice Department announced Saturday.
Ashcroft leaves Tuesday and is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday.
AFP