WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Mohammed Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban, is believed to be holed up with hundreds of his fighters in south-central Afghanistan, the intelligence chief for Kandahar's new governor said.
Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for Kandahar governor Gul Agha, said his sources were telling him that Omar and several hundred fighters were hiding near Baghran, a town 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, the Associated Press reported.
Omar hasn't surfaced since Dec. 7 when he fled Kandahar at the dead of night as opposition forces moved in to wipe out the last remnants of the fundamentalist militia group.
Multimillion-dollar bounties have been placed on the heads of Omar as well as suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have fled across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, though none of these reports could be confirmed.
Despite the rout of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces were still facing pockets of resistance. But officials were now playing down earlier claims that two U.S. transport planes had come under missile fire from hostile ground forces.
At Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., spokesman Maj. Ralph Mills said the plane crew had probably seen muzzle flashes from weapons fired by Afghans as they celebrated the end of Ramadan.
It was initially feared that the missiles were fired from Stingers that were supplied to anti-Soviet fighters back in the 1980s.
In other developments:
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told NATO defense ministers that the alliance must prepare for a range of unconventional security threats from terrorists. "We discussed the need to prepare for a full range of asymmetric threats -- including terrorism, cyber attacks, advanced conventional weapons, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and certainly weapons of mass destruction," he told NATO ministers in Brussels.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein called for an emergency Arab summit to be held at Islam's holiest city -- Mecca in Saudi Arabia -- to discuss Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the Associated Press reported. He also called for Arab unity and said the Sept. 11 attacks were being used by the U.S. and Israel as a pretext to destroy Arabs. The New York Times reported that taking the war against terrorism into Iraq has gained significant ground in recent weeks both inside the administration and among some important allies in the Muslim world.
Fox News Correspondent Geraldo Rivera was hundreds of miles away from the site of a friendly fire incident he reported on, the Baltimore Sun said. In a report earlier this month, Rivera said he became emotional and choked up while standing in "hallowed ground" where friendly fire had killed three servicemen. But Rivera later admitted he was several hundred miles away from the scene of the incident in Kandahar, the report said. Rivera said he had confused the friendly fire incident with another one involving several Afghanis in Tora Bora. See full story.
Reassuring words from General Electric as well as a strong housing number propped up the stock averages Tuesday, though a warning from Solectron weighed on hardware stocks and took the Nasdaq off its perch. See full story.
Where's Osama?
While bin Laden's location is still unknown, the Pentagon said U.S. and Afghan fighters have made progress toward defeating the last Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan.
Tora Bora, in the White Mountains, remains the focus of the U.S. offensive military effort in the region because it is believed that bin Laden may still be in the area and is protected by a small force of loyal troops. There's no evidence to show that he has left the country, the White House said Monday.
Some of the last al-Qaida and Taliban forces have surrendered and are now held by the U.S. military.
"We are obtaining custody of some of these al-Qaida troops," said Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Stufflebeem. He noted that some non-Afghan al-Qaida fighters have been taken offshore to the U.S.S. Pellelieu, the current location of American Taliban fighter John Walker.
Others are not giving up. Airstrikes from U.S. carrier-based aircraft killed al-Qaida fighters over the weekend, Stufflebeem said. The sorties were directed by U.S. special operations troops on the ground, who are working with local forces from the so-called Eastern Alliance.
U.S. commandos and Afghan forces are still looking for Taliban leader Mullah Omar near Kandahar, the Pentagon said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(Quelle: cbs.marketwatch.com)
So long,
Calexa
Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for Kandahar governor Gul Agha, said his sources were telling him that Omar and several hundred fighters were hiding near Baghran, a town 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, the Associated Press reported.
Omar hasn't surfaced since Dec. 7 when he fled Kandahar at the dead of night as opposition forces moved in to wipe out the last remnants of the fundamentalist militia group.
Multimillion-dollar bounties have been placed on the heads of Omar as well as suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have fled across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, though none of these reports could be confirmed.
Despite the rout of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces were still facing pockets of resistance. But officials were now playing down earlier claims that two U.S. transport planes had come under missile fire from hostile ground forces.
At Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., spokesman Maj. Ralph Mills said the plane crew had probably seen muzzle flashes from weapons fired by Afghans as they celebrated the end of Ramadan.
It was initially feared that the missiles were fired from Stingers that were supplied to anti-Soviet fighters back in the 1980s.
In other developments:
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told NATO defense ministers that the alliance must prepare for a range of unconventional security threats from terrorists. "We discussed the need to prepare for a full range of asymmetric threats -- including terrorism, cyber attacks, advanced conventional weapons, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and certainly weapons of mass destruction," he told NATO ministers in Brussels.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein called for an emergency Arab summit to be held at Islam's holiest city -- Mecca in Saudi Arabia -- to discuss Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the Associated Press reported. He also called for Arab unity and said the Sept. 11 attacks were being used by the U.S. and Israel as a pretext to destroy Arabs. The New York Times reported that taking the war against terrorism into Iraq has gained significant ground in recent weeks both inside the administration and among some important allies in the Muslim world.
Fox News Correspondent Geraldo Rivera was hundreds of miles away from the site of a friendly fire incident he reported on, the Baltimore Sun said. In a report earlier this month, Rivera said he became emotional and choked up while standing in "hallowed ground" where friendly fire had killed three servicemen. But Rivera later admitted he was several hundred miles away from the scene of the incident in Kandahar, the report said. Rivera said he had confused the friendly fire incident with another one involving several Afghanis in Tora Bora. See full story.
Reassuring words from General Electric as well as a strong housing number propped up the stock averages Tuesday, though a warning from Solectron weighed on hardware stocks and took the Nasdaq off its perch. See full story.
Where's Osama?
While bin Laden's location is still unknown, the Pentagon said U.S. and Afghan fighters have made progress toward defeating the last Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan.
Tora Bora, in the White Mountains, remains the focus of the U.S. offensive military effort in the region because it is believed that bin Laden may still be in the area and is protected by a small force of loyal troops. There's no evidence to show that he has left the country, the White House said Monday.
Some of the last al-Qaida and Taliban forces have surrendered and are now held by the U.S. military.
"We are obtaining custody of some of these al-Qaida troops," said Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Stufflebeem. He noted that some non-Afghan al-Qaida fighters have been taken offshore to the U.S.S. Pellelieu, the current location of American Taliban fighter John Walker.
Others are not giving up. Airstrikes from U.S. carrier-based aircraft killed al-Qaida fighters over the weekend, Stufflebeem said. The sorties were directed by U.S. special operations troops on the ground, who are working with local forces from the so-called Eastern Alliance.
U.S. commandos and Afghan forces are still looking for Taliban leader Mullah Omar near Kandahar, the Pentagon said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(Quelle: cbs.marketwatch.com)
So long,
Calexa
