Mon, Oct 15, 2001 page1

• Assault from above wipes Afghan village off the map

  • REUTERS
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  There aren't many witnesses to say what happened to Khorum village in eastern Afghanistan last Wednesday night.

  There aren't many survivors.

  One thing is clear, however; the simple collection of mud huts and livestock pens around 60km from Jalalabad was hit by a devastating firestorm from above.

  Taliban officials say Khorum was flattened in an air raid by US warplanes and as many as 200 people may have been killed.

  "I ask America not to kill us," said resident Hussain Khan, who said he lost four children in the raid and survived only by racing out of the house when he first heard the plane.

  Officials say 160 bodies have already been pulled from the rubble, and villagers from neighboring hamlets were still scrambling around looking for more yesterday when a group of reporters from Pakistan accompanied by Taliban officials toured the area.

  The reporters were besieged by more than 100 students from a nearby Islamic school chanting "Down with America," "Long Live Islam" and "We are ready for jihad [holy war]".

  It was not easy to tell if the protest was spontaneous or orchestrated, but it was clear their feelings were genuine.

  Washington has so far not commented on the report, although Pentagon officials have said at least one of its bombs had missed its target, but that was near Kabul, since air raids in pursuit of Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden began last week.

  Villagers said around 20 to 25 bombs or missiles rained on the area in two waves of attacks.

  Villagers sifting through the rubble of houses pulverized by the attack from the sky downed their tools and chanted "Down with America" at the sight of foreigners.

  There were some unanswered questions, however.

  Reporters saw only six freshly dug graves that officials said included the bodies of children killed in the raid. What happened to the other bodies officials say they have recovered is unclear.

  Many training bases operated by bin Laden's al-Qaeda network were known to have previously been situated around Jalalabad, although residents of the Khorum area insisted there were none there now.

  "There are no military bases in this village," said Gul Mohammad. "Where is Osama? He is not here, so why we are being bombed?"

  Meanwhile, al-Qaeda warned the US and Britain to end the air strikes and get out of the Gulf or suffer more violent attacks and a "storm of hijacked planes," a threat the Bush administration dismissed as propaganda.

  In a threatening statement broadcast on Qatar's al-Jazeera television network on Saturday, al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Bu Ghaith told US and British "infidels" to leave the Gulf or else "fire will flare underneath their feet.

  "We tell Bush and others in the US administration that the storms will not stop, particularly the storm of hijacked planes, until the strikes against Afghanistan end and until Palestinian land is liberated," Bu Ghaith said. "We also advise Americans and Britons, especially Muslims, children and all those who oppose US policy, not to ride planes or live in high buildings."

  British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the statement was a clear admission of responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks.
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