Ground and air attacks were under way today against fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan, according to reports.
One US aircraft dropped five bombs on the mountains in the area as local tribal forces directed tanks fire on al-Qaeda positions.
The Afghan Islamic Press(AIP) also reported US bombing triggered a huge forest fire today in the mountains near bin Laden's suspected cave hideout.
Some 2,000 men from local Afghan tribal militias were also fanning out around the Melawa district of the White Mountains as the US aircraft hammered their targets, it said.
Melawa is around 40 to 50 kilometres south of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, near the Tora Bora cave complex where bin Laden is believed to have a fortified base.
AIPsaid fighting between the al-Qaeda forces and Afghan militias broke out overnight, killing at least one US-backed militiaman and wounding two others.
US ground forces are in the area but it is not clear how many or what action they are taking in support of their Afghan allies.
US and Afghan officials say bin Laden may have hundreds of fighters hidden in the caves, which were developed into a military-style bunker system during the 1979-1989 Afghan guerrilla war against the Soviet Union.
AFP