Daily Excelsior....News Page

Bush issues list of most-wanted terrorists
Explosions rock Kabul on fourth night of US strikes
* Al-Qaeda’s challenge will be met:Powell

KABUL, Oct 10: Turning on more heat, US warplanes today launched daylight attacks for the second consecutive day and topped them by heaviest strikes on the fourth successive night targetting Taliban bastion of Kandahar and capital Kabul as the militia claimed three residential areas were pounded causing a number of casualties.

The American aircraft also bombed the Taliban military base of Shamshad close to Pakistan border and half a dozen explosions were set off, Pakistan-based private news agency Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.

US-speareaded forces battered outskirts of Kandahar, the headquarter of the Taliban militia, tonight, it said.

Huge explosions were reported from Kandahar soon after the night strikes, rattling buildings and other structures.

The planes pounded Kabul also and a report quoting witnesses said 13 bombs were rained in the heaviest raid on the capital since attacks began on Sunday night.

Taliban officials claimed upto 70 civilains had been killed since the airstrikes began.

Taliban anti-aircraft guns went into action as jets screamed over the Afghan capital on the fourth night of the US-led aerial strikes.

Witnesses said the bombing was exceptionally heavy and at least 18 large explosions were reported from various parts of Kabul.

Most of the Taliban response to air attacks were apparently from locations in Kabul which reportedly house Osama bin Laden’s terrorist training sites.

Taliban officials said four or five planes circled Kandahar this morning and afternoon and loud explosions were heard from the airport that has been repeatedly pounded since sunday night.

Earlier, establishing air supremacy over Afghanistan, US warplanes launched daylight attacks for the second consecutive day hitting Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and the militia claimed that three residential areas were pounded causing a number of casualties.

Taliban officials said four or five planes circled Kandahar and loud explosions were heard from the airport that has been repeatedly pounded since Sunday night.

Claiming that the strikes had been successful, President George W Bush said in Washington that the "skies are now free for US planes to fly without being harassed in any way."

Putting up a semblance of resistance, Taliban fighters fired anti-aircraft guns but with little effect as the US jets were flying high and the militia’s arsenal had limited capabilities, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salaam Zaeef told reporters here.

He said the raids caused heavy casualties but Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden were safe.

Bin Laden’s organisation Al-Qaeda issued a statement to Qatar-based Arabic TV Al-Jazeera asking Muslims all over the world to wage a holy war against US and target its interests.

"The Americans must know that the storm of air planes will not stop", the statement said in reference to September 11 strikes in the US.

Al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith in the statement said "from today onwards, the Islamic nation will not keep silent...American interests are everywhere, all over the world, and every Muslim has to play his real and true role to uphold his religion as his nation."

The Ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Doha called for a UN conference to lay the ground rules for the war on terrorism.

Ruler of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, current chairman of OIC, said "military operations (in Afghanistan) must be limited to the authors of the attacks" in US and "no one else so that the innocent do not have to pay the price."

Pursuing his anti-terrorism campaign, British Prime Minister Tony Blair went to the Gulf ally Oman for talks with Sultan Qaboos. He also held talks with UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Geneva.

Taliban, which until now has been claiming that bin Laden has been under restraint, said there are no restrictions on him for communication with the outside world.

"Now that America has begun its war against Muslims, the situation has totally changed and there are no restrictions on Osama," Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmain told BBC’s Pashtu service.

The Taliban ambassador in Pakistan also dismissed US claims that its air defence system has been destroyed.

Despite the apparent air supremacy for US, there appeared to be no immediate shift to low altitude raids that would allow pin-point targeting of military installations and terror camps to pave the way for deployment of ground troops in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in Washington, President George W Bush today issued a list of 22 "most-wanted" suspected terrorists, including Osama bin Laden with huge rewards on their heads but it does not include leaders of Pakistan-based outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad India wants to be banned by the US.

Bush unveiled the list during a visit to the FBI headquarters. Among those who figure in the list are bin Laden, for whose capture there is a standing 10 million dollar offer, his two deputies and several members of his Al-Qaeda network implicated in earlier bombings overseas against US interests.

The others named in the list are Egyptians Ayman Al-Zawahri and Mohamed Atef, who have long been identified as bin Laden’s most trusted lieutenants.

US officials have linked both men to the Sept 11 terror strikes. Interpol has also issued an arrest warrant for Al-Zawahri for "masterminding several terrorist operations in Egypt" and "is accused of criminal complicity" for committing premeditated murders.

Atef is a former police official, identified by the US authorities as a key military strategist and training director for bin Laden.

Others in the list are those identified last week by British Prime Minister Tony Blair — Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, who Blair said were Al-Qaeda operatives involved in the US embassy bombings in 1998.

Saif Al Adel, identified as a senior member of Al-Qaeda believed to have provided training to tribes in Somalia where US troops were attacked and killed in 1993 and Ibrahim Al-Yacoub and Abdel Karim Al-Nasser, named as suspects in the 1996 Khobar towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in which 19 US servicemen were killed.

Others in the list include suspects in the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre and a foiled 1995 plot to bomb airliners in East Asia.

The list, officials said, is intended to step up pressure on the terrorists.

Since the attacks in the US, an estimated 600 people have been arrested or detained as possible collaborators. An additional group of about 200 people are sought for questioning.

Meanwhle, United States today dismissed terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda’s "chilling challenge" to all Muslims to join a Jihad, or holy war, against America.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC’s Today Show the US would meet the challenge from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network which warned the United States would face further attacks by hijacked planes in a Jihad against the nation.

The threat came almost a month after hijackers rammed fuel-laden passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, killing around 5,500 people. A fourth hijacked plane crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania.

Powell added he was "not concerned yet" over the anti-US demonstrations that erupted in Muslim nations after US air strikes against Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban regime continued to harbor bin Laden, chief suspect behind the September 11 attacks.

"From what I can tell those demonstrations don’t represent the views of the entire population," he said. "I think as we go forward and explain the purposes of our campaign and as we point out the evil nature of these terrorist actions I expect we will be able to manage that."

"The leaders themselves are solidly in support of the campaign that we are pursuing under President George W Bush’s leadership," he said.

Powell said the United Nations is likely to play a pivotal role in Afghanistan if and when the fundamental Taliban militia are removed from power.

"The UN might well have to play a very, very important role in a post-Taliban world," he said.

Powell said the United States wanted eventually to see in Afghanistan a "Government that represents all of the people of Afghanistan" and was in touch with all the different factions "to see how such a Government could arise."

"We’re keeping in touch with all the parties," he said.

Earlier, Sulaiman Bu Ghaith, spokesman for Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group, made a statement broadcast on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television .

"Praise be to God who does not show the unjust people the right path and prayer and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad, may god’s peace and blessings be upon him and his kin and companions, and peace be upon him and those who follow his track until doomsday.

I direct this message to the entire Muslim nation and say that ranks have united against the nation of Islam and Muslims and here the crusade that Bush had promised has started against the Muslim land of Afghanistan and its devout people.

And here we are living under this crusader shelling that targets the entire nation. The nation should know that we have a just cause. Here is the Islamic nation groaning for more than 80 years under the weight of the joint Jewish-crusader aggression.

There is the land of Palestine living under Jewish occupation and its people groaning from all of this killing and massacres and nobody moves. Here is the land of the Arabian peninsula being tarnished with the feet of those who came to occupy this land and rape these (Islamic) sanctities and loot these resources.

The (Muslim) nation should know that what America is saying and declaring is a form of deception. Is it logical that America and its allies carry out all of this killing and bloodshed and looting over these long years and it is not called terrorism and when the victim rises to even the score he is considered a terrorist? This type of deception cannot be accepted in any way possible and let America know that the nation will not be silent after today after what is happening on its land. Jihad for god’s purposes is an obligation today for every Muslim on this earth. American interests are spread everywhere in the world. Every Muslim should carry out his true role towards his nation and his religion. Terrorism against oppressors is a belief in our religion and our teachings.

I would like to tackle an important point in this speech which is that those youth who destroyed America and launched the storm of airplanes, they did good, by taking the battle to the heart of America.

Let America know that this battle will not leave its land until it exits our land and until they stop supporting the Jews and lift the unjust sanctions on Iraq, due to which more than a million children lost their lives.

Americans should know the storm of planes will not stop god willing. In the (Muslim) nation there are thousands of youth who are as keen on death as Americans are keen on life and let them know that by invading the land of Afghanistan they have opened a new page of enmity and conflict between us and the infidel forces. We believe, god almighty willing, that with the financial power we have and the moral power we wield and the confidence we have in god the almighty we will conquer.

The Americans have opened on themselves a door that will not close under any circumstance. Finally, I address this speech to the sons of Muslims, to the youth, to men, to women so that they shoulder their responsibility and learn that the land of Afghanistan and the warriors on it are indeed being subjected to a full-fledged crusade the target of which is to destroy this group that set off in the name of god and that fights for its belief and religion. The nation should shoulder its responsibility. Otherwise it will be a disgrace.

Finally, I praise god the almighty who towers above all, who led us on the right path to this Jihad and who led us on the right path to this contest, this decisive battle between infidels and believers. I ask god, who is superior above all and greater than all, to give us victory against our enemy and to reverse their ploys against them and to turn them defeated and vanquished. Peace be upon you and mercy from god and blessings. (AGENCIES)

4 killed in cave after 12 days
7 terrorists shot dead in Poonch; blast rocks school

Excelsior Correspondent

POONCH/RAJOURI, Oct 10: Seven terrorists were killed in two operations in Gali Pindi and Budh Kanari areas this afternoon while a Government school was damaged in a powerful explosion in Mendhar tehsil.

Four Pakistani terrorists, who had been hiding deep inside a cave for last 12 days after the killing of their five associates in Gali Pindi, were eliminated by army today afternoon after troops stormed the cave by blasting its small portion.

Troops of Poonch Brigade under direct supervision of Garrison Commander WJB Sturgeon had laid a tight cordon around the cave in Gali Pindi, about 20 kms from Poonch after the terrorists took shelter in it.

Four terrorists of the group were killed soon after their infiltration from across the LoC while another terrorist was gunned down two days later when he came out of the cave in search of water.

Defence sources here said army jawans also pushed ‘dummy commandos’ inside the cave to exhaust ammunition of the hiding terrorists. As no gun shot came from inside the cave since last evening, troops presumed that terrorists have exhausted their ammunition.

In the afternoon, army engineers were called to the spot, who blasted a portion of the cave to pave way for entry of army commandos inside. An hour long operation by army led to elimination of all four terrorists inside the cave. Troops didn’t suffer any casualty.

Bodies of all four terrorists were brought out of the cave but only two of them could be identified as Sadar Din and Mohd Qadir Mittar, both Pakistanis. Two AK-47 rifles, two pistols, 150 Ak rounds, three pouches, two pithoos and Rs 150 in Pakistani currency were recovered from the possession of terrorists.

"This was the longest ever operation in border district of Poonch which lasted 12 days", an army official said and expressed satisfaction over elimination of entire group of nine terrorists, all of whom were Pakistanis affiliated with Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HUJI) outfit.

Another encounter took place between terrorists and army in village Tirkha Choda in Budh Kanari area of Darhal police station in Rajouri this evening. Encounter, which started in the morning, ended with the killing of three terrorists.

Two other terrorists managed to escape and couldn’t be traced. Two Ak rifles with ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. Identity of the terrorists hasn’t been established.

A powerful bomb, planted by saboteurs in the office of Principal Government higher secondary school, Chhatral in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch, exploded this morning causing extensive damage to school building.

However, no loss of life was reported in the blast as school was closed at the time of incident. A police party from Mendhar visited school for investigations. School was closed down for the day as a security measure to carry out checking in the entire building.

A powerful 4 kg IED was detected and defused by army in Faisalabad area of Surankot this morning.