JALALABAD, Oct 14: Foreign journalists invited to view the devastation wrought by the US bombing of Afghanistan arrived in Jalalabad on Sunday to find Taliban fighters dancing to the sound of incoming missiles.

A heavily guarded convoy, bringing the first journalists allowed into Taliban-controlled territory since US-led forces began their military campaign in Afghanistan a week ago, reached this eastern Afghan city about midnight in the middle of a US air strike.

Three loud explosions rocked the city, one of them close enough to rattle the windows of the “White Mountain Hotel,” where the 19 journalists were being put up prior to visiting a village where the Taliban claim at least 160 people were killed in a US aerial attack.

While most of the reporters flinched at the blasts, armed Taliban guards outside the hotel laughed dismissively in the direction of the explosions and even danced with each other in a display of bravado.

The journalists were given a warm welcome in Jalalabad by Atiq Ullah Qazi, a spokesman for the Taliban foreign ministry.

“In the morning, we will show you the destruction and damage caused by the cruel attacks of the United States,” Qazi said. “They want to capture Afghanistan.”

The Taliban say they have recovered 160 mutilated bodies from Kadam village, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Jalalabad, after it was completely destroyed by US bombs on Wednesday night.

There has been no independent confirmation of the toll, although the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Saturday broadcast images of the destruction in the village.

The United States has expressed regret for the loss of any innocent lives, while angrily rejecting Taliban accusations that it is deliberately targetting civilians.

The journalists entered Afghanistan via the Torkham border crossing near Peshawar.

On the Afghan side, Taliban fighters, many of them teenagers, gave no indication of being cowed by seven days of sustained aerial bombardment.—AFP