November 3, 2001	Saturday	Shaba’an 16, 1422

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KABUL, Nov 2: US bombers pounded Taliban positions in northern Afghanistan on Friday, but opposition commanders reported the bombings had little impact on the frontlines.

US B-52s hit Taliban frontline positions on the Shomali plain, 50kms north of Kabul.

Strong attacks were also carried out against Taliban positions defending the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. One opposition official, Nadeem Ashraf, called the daylong attacks “relentless” despite overcast skies and heavy rains.

In the afternoon a carpet of bombs hit a Taliban-controlled hilltop area southwest of Bagram airbase, a significant sector in a frontline where the Taliban have concentrated about 6,000 fighters.

A massive curtain of smoke and dust rose over the area and shockwaves from the blast rumbled across the wide plains.

“Around 60 bombs were dropped this morning on the hills,” said a Northern Alliance commander, Sayed Amruddin. “According to Taliban communications we monitored, four pickups were destroyed.”

Opposition fighters counted six runs by B-52 bombers, with each dropping 25 bombs in rapid succession on suspected Taliban positions defending Kabul. They appeared to be targeting positions both on the front line, including a Taliban-held village called Kharabogh, and deeper inside Taliban-held territory.

“We could see B-52s, the ones with the four engines, drop many, many bombs that raised huge masses of smoke,” opposition fighter Said Mirshah, 24, said.—AFP