Friendly fire claims Mujahideen men

Mujahideen fighters surrounding Osama bin Laden's last hideout, the Tora Bora cave network, have lost more men to their American allies than in fighting al Qaeda - and their commanders have been squabbling openly.

Last week the assault on Tora Bora looked like an enthusiastic bid to rid Afghanistan of the cancer of al Qaeda, and pick up the $25 million reward on Bin Laden's head. Now it has degenerated into what looks suspiciously like a fake battle, laid on for the world's media, and for the British and American Special Forces. The death toll among Mujahideen from B52 air strikes stood yesterday at 18 men, all killed over the last seven days by American bombs intended to blast the terrorists out of their stronghold.

Mujahideen commanders believe Bin Laden and his men are hiding out in Tora Bora, less than three miles from the Pakistani border. "We have them trapped in Tora Bora, all routes in and all routes out have been cut by our men. But the next stage of the fighting is going to be hard, very, very, hard. These valleys and hills are not easy to fight against but easy to defend," said Haji Zaman, one of the three main Mujahideen commanders.

"I am 100 per cent sure that Bin Laden is there," he said. Radio reports from frontline soldiers say Bin Laden has been seen visiting his men on horseback. Radio operators have also heard al Qaeda officers anxiously ask after the health of the "sheikh" following US bombing runs. The effects of carpet bombing, cluster bombs, bunker-buster weapons designed to explode deep inside Bin

Laden's tunnels can only be guessed at. What it has done to the Mujahideen spirit is unmistakable. On Saturday the "hardened Afghan warriors" who drove 100,000 Soviet soldiers out of their country and helped force the collapse of the Taliban, ran for their lives when they were mortared by al Qaeda.

Early yesterday morning a team of Mujahideen captured a strategic hilltop close to Malawa village which had been an al Qaeda stronghold. Moments later, three of them were dead, bombed by B52s.

Zhavez Nadar, 27, a fighter who returned from the front said: "We've attacked and they've pushed us back every time so far. They are safe in the caves."

To make matters worse, Zaman and Haji Zahir, who command men from a different faction of Pashtun warriors, rowed openly while their men cocked their weapons yesterday. Zaman had arrested one of Zahir's senior officers, Eid Mohammed, for allegedly running supplies to Bin Laden's men.

Behind the lines, every senior Mujahideen commander is on the make. Harzat Ali, who controls the third element of the ground forces charges the media $150 a day for car hire, plus more for the compulsory "security guard".