KABUL, Oct 10: US-led forces on Wednesday blitzed Kabul and Kandahar with the heaviest bombing since Washington launched its campaign to bring down the Taliban.

A fourth night of airstrikes against targets across the country got underway with a huge onslaught on Kabul, where residents reported four waves of attacks and at least 18 large bombs being dropped on or around the city.

The Taliban’s southern stronghold of Kandahar also came under heavy attack with targets around the city being pounded.

“It’s really scary. I’ve heard four or five very loud bombs and they seem very close. Everything is shaking but I have nowhere to hide,” said a man living some 30 kilometres outside the city centre.

The volume of anti-aircraft fire unleashed in Kabul in response to the latest attacks appeared to be less than on previous nights, suggesting that some batteries may have been taken out in previous raids.

The fresh onslaught followed a series of daytime raids on Kandahar and flyovers of Kabul which US officials said had been designed to locate hidden targets.

Before the latest wave of attacks got underway, the Taliban said the bombing had already left at least 76 civilians dead and rubbished a claim from Washington that the US and British forces had established air supremacy over the country.

The militia insisted that its air defences remained intact. US fighter jets continued to carry out their raids from very high altitudes, out of the range of anti-aircraft guns.

Two of the prime targets in the bombing — Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar — have both survived four days of bombing, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef said.

The United Nations alleged that Afghan nationals working for one of its demining projects had been beaten up in Kabul, in Kandahar and in Jalalabad.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker also accused the Taliban of ransacking and looting a UN office in Mazar-i-Sharif, breaking down the doors and taking communications equipment.

28 DEATHS: Taliban sources said 28 civilians had died in or around Kandahar, where the US-led forces have targeted the airport and suspected training camps.—AFP