Senior Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen said in remarks broadcast today that between 600 and 900 people had so far been killed, or were missing, in the US-led strikes on Afghanistan.
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Afghani civilians examine
an unexploded bomb following an American bombing raid near Kabul earlier this week. |
The number of casualties ranges between 600 and 900 dead, because we consider those who are missing under the rubble among the dead, Mutmaen told Qatar's Jazeera television in a videophone interview from an unidentified location.
Concerns over civilian casualties from US attacks on Afghanistan mounted today, as US President George Bush signalled the focus of the campaign would soon switch to ground forces.
Raids on the Afghan capital Kabul left at least six people dead in the worst independently confirmed case of civilian deaths since air strikes against the Taliban militia began 12 days ago.
And as aid agencies warned of an imminent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the Taliban admitted that the lives of foreign aid workers would be at risk if they returned to the country.
A series of direct hits on residential areas in Kabul placed the ability of US forces to hit what is left of the Taliban's military infrastructure without the risk of killing innocent civilians under the critical spotlight.
One man told reporters he had lost five members of his family when bombs destroyed six houses in the southeastern Kalae Zaman Khan area, while residents said an eight-year-old girl died in the eastern suburb of Macroyan.
"I have lost my mother, my brother, my brother's wife, my grandmother and my sister. I have lost all hope, they were my hope," said Abdullah, 27, as he searched the rubble of his house in Kalae Zaman Khan, five kilometers (three miles) east of the centre of Kabul.
The Taliban claimed at least 70 people had been killed in raids since yesterday morning, 47 of them in Kandahar.
Militia officials also reported an entire family had been wiped out in the bombing of a truck in which they were moving their possessions out of the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Mr Bush's hint of a strategic switch in the nature of the campaign came at a California airbase on his way to China for talks with other Pacific Rim leaders.
"The enemy's air force and air defenses are being demolished," Mr Bush said. "We're paving the way for friendly troops on the ground to slowly but surely tighten the net to bring them to justice," he said.
It was not clear whether Mr Bush was referring to the deployment of ground troops by the US-led coalition or to a long-awaited offensive by anti-Taliban forces in northern Afghanistan.
Since the US bombing began, Taliban forces have lost control of the central province of Ghor and been put under pressure around the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif, close to the border with Uzbekistan.
But the Islamic militia remains dug into the hills north of Kabul and there has been no sign of an opposition push to the capital.
The opposition claimed today they had repelled a Taliban counter-offensive near Mazar and reported fighting there had subsided.
"We are still in our positions close to Mazar, and waiting for our moment to attack," opposition commander Mohammad Atta told a reporter by satellite telephone.
Residents reported that the US had again used powerful low-flying AC-130 ground attack aircraft in the overnight attacks on Kabul.
The use of the AC-130's has been seen as a sign that the Taliban's air defences have been substantially damaged, creating the conditions for the deployment -- most probably by helicopter -- of US and British special forces.
The deployment of commandos inside Afghanistan is seen as inevitable if the USled coalition is to achieve its objective of capturing or eliminating Osama bin Laden and the dismantling of his al-Qaeda network -- blamed for the September 11th attacks on the United States.
Continuing air strikes, and the risk of further civilian casualties, also carry a risk of weakening international support for the campaign.
Key allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have remained on board so far but have voiced concern over civilian deaths, while international aid agencies have warned hundreds of thousands of Afghans will starve unless the bombing stops soon to allow sufficient aid to get into the country before winter.
The aid agencies are in a "race against time" to avert famine in parts of the war-torn country, the UN World Food Programme representative in Iran said, estimating that there are 7.5 million people at risk.
AFP