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Villagers view a bomb crater to the east of Kabul
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US forces carried out their most ferocious bombing raids so far over Afghanistan as US President Mr George W Bush vowed that America would never relent in its war on terrorism. Meanwhile the Taliban have claimed that 300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the US raids began on Sunday.
As the United States stopped to honor its dead exactly one month after the September 11th attacks, Washington denied claims by the Taliban that it was targeting Afghan civilians.
"I pledge to you that America will never relent on this war against terror," Bush said at one of two commemoration ceremonies.
US jets roared in over the Afghan capital amid heavy anti-aircraft fire and the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar for the fifth successive day, rocking the cities with loud explosions in a rolling series of day and night raids.
Residents said three bombs fell on a hilltop near Kabul airport and another explosion was heard in the east of the city. In Kandahar, at least two loud blasts were heard around the city as several planes soared overhead.
Witnesses said the overnight bombing of Kabul and Kandahar was the most intense of the five-day campaign.
US Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that US warplanes had attacked deeply buried bunkers in Afghanistan, using used huge 5000-pound "bunker-busting" and earth-penetrating bombs.
But he dismissed claims by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers that Washington was deliberately going after non-military targets. "Everyone in this country knows that the United States of America does not target civilians. We have not, we do not," he said.
He said civilian casualties were regrettable but inevitable in any conflict, adding that US precision bombs being used in Afghanistan were very good could not be "100 percent. There is no question that I and anyone else involved regrets this unintentional loss of life," he maintained.
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Taliban soldiers
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The Taliban claimed the US attacks killed "large numbers" of non-combatants, including more than 200 in a single failed attack on an alleged training camp.
"The people of Afghanistan, who have been severely affected by 20 years of war, drought, sanctions and poverty, are now facing American air raids," the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef, said.
The Taliban claimed more than 300 civilians had been killed since the strikes began last Sunday.
Mr Rumsfeld altered earlier US military claims that the US had established air supremacy over Afghanistan, conceding that the Taliban were still threatened US jets with missiles and anti-aircraft guns.
"We have to acknowledge the reality that there is still an air defense threat to the United States," Mr Rumsfeld said.
In a second emotional one-month anniversary ceremony in New York, hundreds of rescue workers stood in silent prayer by the rubble of the World Trade Center, leveled by the suicide attacks.
AFP