WASHINGTON/KABUL:- The United States and Britain have launched a wave of air strikes against targets all over Afghanistan, and President George W. Bush said the action heralded a sustained, comprehensive and relentless campaign against terrorism.
Eyewitnesses said they saw flashes and heard explosions over the Afghan capital of Kabul and around the cities of Kandahar and Jalalabad in the first phase of what the United States has said would be a protracted and wide-ranging war against terrorism and the states that support it.
LONDON:Prime Minister Tony Blair said British submarines had launched missiles at Afghanistan as part of this evening's US-led attack. Confirming Britain's involvement in the retaliation for last month's attacks on New York and Washington, Blair told reporters that Germany, France, Australia and Canada had committed themselves to take part in the action.
ISLAMABAD:The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said the US strikes on his country were a terrorist attack, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP)said. This attack by America is a terrorist act, AIP quoted Zaeef as saying.
ISLAMABAD:The eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad was under attack on tonight, CNNhas reported. The channel said it had heard by telephone that the target appeared to be the airport near the city.
KABUL:US attacks have destroyed the command base at the airport of Kandahar, the southern Afghan stronghold of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, CNN reportedly. CNNquoted a senior local official as confirming the strike on the airport command centre.
JABAL-US-SARAJ:Three big flashes lit up the night sky over the front line between Taliban and Afghan opposition forces some 40 km north of Kabul, witnesses said. A Reuters cameraman based in territory held by the opposition Northern Alliance, saw the blue coloured flashes over the area of Bagram to the south.